Genetically Modified Organisms: Friend or Foe?

Abstract

The controversy surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMO\u27s) spans many different aspects of life from food production and medicine to environmental uses. One-hundred ninety-four students at Grand Valley participated in an anonymous voluntary survey in which they expressed their opinions about the impacts of GMO\u27s. Because of the broad span of their uses, our survey divided the applications of GMO\u27s into the categories of crops, animal products, the environment, medicine, fuel, research and household products. We also asked the students about the possible impacts of GMO\u27s in their own lives in the areas of personal health, cost, and moral conflicts. Our results show that if the entirety of GMO\u27s is considered, the student body has a neutral attitude towards them. However, there are distinct results showing opinions of positive impacts in medicine, and negative environmental impacts