The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. - H.P. Lovecraft

As humans, we are survivors and this means that we naturally assess the potential threats to our existence. It is in our human nature to be cautious and fear what we do not know. Even the idea of starting a new school or moving to a different place is anxiety-inducing for most people. More dauntingly, this is why unexplored locations like dark caves or the bottom of the ocean frighten us. This is because there is no certainty of the situation that we are putting ourselves into. We want to understand the world around us and protect ourselves from any harm or deceit. The question arises, however, whether we as a society are potentially allowing our fear of the unknown to hold us back from exploring an entirely new sector of creation. Or worse. That our fear is harming those who have less of a voice than we do. In recent years, this fear of the unknown, our trust in the information given by the media, and our processes to make judgements has veered us towards a negative interpretation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which has formed a widespread public opinion opposing the research. This is not to say that this opposition by the public is "wrong", however, in order to ensure that we are actively choosing what is best for our environment and for the health and wellness of humanity, the extensive benefits GMOs have to offer should not be ignored.

GMO...what's that?

According to the Non-GMO Project (2016), a GMO is a “plant, animal, microorganism or other organism whose genetic makeup has been modified in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenic technology”. These combinations of plants and other live organisms do not occur in nature or through natural methods of crossbreeding.

There are several key steps that must be taken by scientists to successfully genetically modify a plant:

1. A trait of interest is found in an organism, such as a plant’s resistance to a type of harmful fungus, pest, or insect.
2. After this trait is identified, the DNA is isolated.
3. The DNA is inserted into the organism chosen for modification. To shorten the time that it takes to harvest potential GM crops, the isolated gene is inserted into plant callus, which is the soft tissue that forms over a wounded or cut plant surface. These plant cells are very similar to the stem cells found in humans. Stem cells are special human cells that are able to develop into many different cell types, which can offer new potentials for treating diseases.
4. The organism is cultivated and if properly approved, the plant's seeds can be collected and harvested.

Multiple lab trials must be conducted, oftentimes including test trials on mice. The mice are fed the newly cultivated plant and the mice are then observed to account for any possible levels of toxicity or negative side effects (Real Science, 2019).

For more information on what a genetically modified organism is, click to read this article from Purdue University or watch the video below:

Are we "for" or "against"?

Our decision-making process

In recent years, the debate on GMOs has been a huge conversation for the public. This means that media outlets have been eagerly taking advantage of the GMO surge in popularity. For example, on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live (2014), the host Jimmy sends his film crew to a local farmers market to ask people why they avoid GMOs, as well as what the letters “GMO” stand for. The responses are comical, but frankly it is a bit disappointing to hear the lack of knowledge that the average person has about GMOs. In one scene, the interviewer asks a young woman what a GMO is and she replies with “I don’t know. I know it’s like some corn...bad stuff...right? I know it’s bad but to be completely honest with you, I have no idea”. In another scene, the interviewer asks an older woman if she tries to avoid GMOs in her diet and then if so, why. The woman responds with certainty: “Absolutuely! Because they’re not good for you!”. However, when she is asked to explain what a GMO actually is, the woman utters: “Well, it’s a genetically mono-pho-I don’t know! What is it?!”

This lack of public knowledge, when it comes to understanding what GMOs are and how they affect humans and the environment, is part of the reason why there are many divisions of opinion over GMO safety. As mentioned previously, humans are instinctively afraid of the unknown and if a society is not properly educated, there is bound to be a fear-based mentality surrounding what we do not know. This leaves room for misinformation to be spread or for assumptions to be made based solely off of emotion. In general, the split opinion on GMOs makes it hard for food companies, food health and safety organizations, and governments to objectively educate consumers.

In an interview between Neil deGrasse Tyson and Pamela Ronald, a plant geneticist, Ronald emphasizes that topics such as “vaccines, climate change, and so-called GMOs” have been extremely politicized, “making it very, very difficult for consumers to really access accurate science-based information.” (Mashable Deals, 2017). This makes it easier for people’s attitudes towards GMOs to be based on their own individual emotions, rather than based on facts. Despite providing scientific evidence on the benefits of GM crops, people will not usually change their opinions if those opinions are based on intuition. This can partially be explained by motivated reasoning and confirmation bias. Explained by the speaker Dietram Scheufele of UW-Madison, motivated reasoning occurs when "information that fits one's beliefs is weighted more heavily than information that does not fit them". Confirmation bias occurs when we seek out sources such as other people or certain sectors of the media that "agree with what we believe".

Tamer Haspel, a food and health journalist with the Washington Post, has a metaphor for motivated reasoning: the elephant and the rider. The elephant sums up our intuitions, emotions, and cultural values. On top of the elephant is the rider, which represents our "cognitive processing that is responsible for analyzing facts and reaching logical conclusions". To make sense of the metaphor, "a person's elephant more quickly decides what it thinks about an issue than the rider". The problem arises when people tend to evaluate the credibility of experts according to the extent to which they agree with them (Rhodes & Sawyer, 2015).

In a paper written by philosopher Stefaan Blancke (2015), he argues that the negative representations of GMOs are widespread and compelling because they are "intuitively appealing". As humans fear the unknown, the negative portrayal of GMOs can capture our attention and we can easily process and remember the risks, even if they are untrue, just because they have been posed to be a threat. Psychological essentialism, another intuition, makes us think of DNA as an organism's essence, the dictating factor that determines the organism's identity. For example, in a survey done in the United States, more than half of the participants said that a tomato modified with fish DNA would taste just like fish. This, of course, is not true as isolating one trait of a fish does not directly translate to that gene encompassing all traits of the fish. The psychological processes that our minds go through when making judgements affect how we as a society think about GMOs. Most people are familiar with the idea of GMOs, or at least claim they are, but are unaware of the true potential harms and benefits. With this unfamiliarity comes the correlation of the unknown with the unnatural, which results in a repulsion from exploring both sides of the "debate" on GMOs. People are also affected by their desire to be seen in a certain, positive way by their peers. We naturally want to fit in with the group mentality, however this can hinder the "truth" that we are willing to present to ourselves.

The Great Potato Famine took place in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 and was caused by a fungus known as the late blight, or scientifically known as Pytophthora infestans. This fungus attacks the potato plant, leaving it inedible. During the famine, nearly one million people died and another one-and-a-half million fled the country, leading to a devastating decline in Ireland's population.

To this day, farmers in Ireland still have trouble dealing with blight as it still proves to be a 5 billion dollar problem for the global potato industry. This has resulted in a increase in the usage of fungicide. However, in 2015, a breakthrough occurred and a new variety of GM potatoes that were blight resistant were introduced. This was done by inserting the blight resistant genes of wild potato plants into the conventional potato.