The manipulation of genetic make-up in plants and animals can be seen from generations. This is the traditional cross-breeding and the plants and animals with strong characteristics are selected for breeding.
With the advancement in DNA technology, new techniques have been used to identify the desired characteristics. The scientists have experimented with this technology and used the small piece of DNA of one organism and added it to the DNA of another organism ("WHO | Frequently asked questions on genetically modified foods", 2016). The host species is known as the Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) as it has the new desired characteristic that cannot be achieved using the traditional method of cross-breeding.
There are a number of benefits of genetically modified organisms.
Better environment – one of the main benefits of GMOs is that they require less use of chemicals and helps in controlling the environmental pollution (Duvauchelle, 2014). It also helps in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions (Duvauchelle, 2014).
Increased nutritional value – the GMOs contain additional nutrients that may lack from the diet of people in most of the developed countries ("Possible benefits of GM crops in developing countries - Nuffield Bioethics", 2016). One of the examples of GMOs is Golden Rice that has improved levels of B-carotene and it helps in preventing the deficiency of Vitamin A ("Possible benefits of GM crops in developing countries - Nuffield Bioethics", 2016).
Resistant to insects – GMO foods have high resistance to insects. The toxic bacterium is added to the crops in order to make them resistant to insects, though they are safe for human use (Duvauchelle, 2014).
There are a number of other benefits as well like an increase in the number of higher crop yields can be observed. Another benefit is that the crops are more reluctant to the weather extremes which cannot be seen in most of the crops.
References
Duvauchelle, J. (2014). Pros & Cons of GMO Foods | LIVESTRONG.COM.
LIVESTRONG.COM. Retrieved 21 April 2016, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/213053-pros-cons-of-gmo-foods/
Possible benefits of GM crops in developing countries - Nuffield Bioethics. (2016). Nuffield
Bioethics. Retrieved 21 April 2016, from http://nuffieldbioethics.org/report/gm-crops-developing-countries-2/benefits-gm-crops-developing-countries/
WHO | Frequently asked questions on genetically modified foods. (2016). Who.int. Retrieved
21 April 2016, from http://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/food-technology/faq-genetically-modified-food/en/
