​Disadvantages

In contrast to all these advantages there are also some disadvantages. The main concern with genetically modified food would be the impacts on the health of the human body. Studies have shown that the consumption of these foods might lead to people acquiring diseases that are immune to antibiotics and also more susceptible to getting various cancers. An increase in the number of people getting sick means a proportional increase in medical bills for individuals and higher taxes for communities. These can throw off the economical balance as more health facilities will have to start taking funding from other sections in the community. It raises many ethical concerns in people and communities with a strong focus on religion, GM foods are thought to be an unnatural way of producing crops. Most people who have a concern with this also have a concern with the idea of crossing genes over form plant to animals and vice versa as it goes against that natural coding of life. Many third world countries might also start to depend on these foods to feed their growing population and therefore depend on the industrial countries that are producing them. This dependence is not good for the countries especially if the industrial countries decide to stop producing the GM foods.(5) The change of a certain plant in a genome may cause it to become toxic to the other animals or insects in the same genome and therefore seriously harm the population of other organisms. Slowly the changes in the plants could lead to small extinctions in different sub-areas for certain organisms. Cross pollination of species that we never intended to be altered may result in weeds becoming insect resistant and over growing in areas where they would not normally be found such as private property in communities. This would cause the citizens of these communities to become angry with the look of their area and an increase in the town’s money spent on the upkeep of the public environment. If the genes from a food that person is allergic to is now found in a GM food that same person will now find it impossible to eat the original allergen food as well as the new GM food, for example the Brazilian nut gene can now be found in GM corn. (7)