It is important to note, that this is bigger than many issues being debated this day. We are talking about the current and future food supplies for the world, as well as other worlds when we inhabit outer space. We are what we eat as they say, so this debates needs to go on.

What are the benefits of GMO crops? The claimed benefits of GMO crops by its proponents are bigger and quicker yields and more resistant crops against such things as weeds and unfavourable weather conditions.

What are the problems with GMO crops? Those who are against the implementation of GMO crops tout, health and nutrition problems, cross pollination which contaminates non GMO crops and ownership of life forms through unfair patents which GMO crops and seeds bring to the table.

There are more pros and cons, but from where I am standing these are the main issues at hand.

I haven't heard anybody yet that denies the pros of GMO crops and food. To date, GMO crops have had bigger yields and have been more resistant to a range of problems that farmers have always come up against. Again, there may be some people out there who deny this, but I haven't heard their voice as of yet.

But the negative factors of GMO food and crops have had many heated debates of whether they are indeed problems or not. I'd like to go through these issues one by one to give you my thoughts on where we are on these issues.

1) Health and Nutrition Problems

Across most of the mass production of food industry, whether GMO or not, there is very little focus on nutrition. For many thousands of years many cultures have ensured nutrition is a corner stone of their diets and many problems that we have in our western lives are a result that we don't take seriously the importance of nutrition. It is important to note that, even with non-GMO non-processed food, nutrition levels have been dropping since the industrial revolution began as unintelligent farming and environmental degradation has taken almost all of the selenium and other important elements out of the soil and hence our food supply. In the past decade or so this has been reversed in some areas as better land management practices come into effect and food growing techniques like organics, hydroponics and permacultre are practised more and more.

GMO seeds and crops can have vitamins, nutrients and minerals into them. A big problem is that because most of us in western society that understand the influence that real nutrition brings to our lives, that they actually aren't and won't be added to the GMO foods. Even if vitamins, nutrients and minerals are added to GMO crops, without a lot more research people may not get the benefits of added benefits of them. Why you say? Nature is an amazing thing and naturally adds other elements to foods which allow vitamins, nutrients and vitamins to work. As an example, it is known that beta carotene is one of the main healthy nutrients in carrots. But carrots also are made up of elements that are there to make the beta carotene work when added to the body. So if beta carotene is added without these other elements, then we don't get the true benefits that nature intended us to get. They may be able to add a marketing point that some new GMO food products includes beta carotene, but this most probably wouldn't mean that whoever eats it get the benefits.

Another health concern of GMO food and crops is whether the genetic manipulation of the seed will lead to increased risk of diseases such as cancer or even disabilities like deformities. This will only be answered with time and real scientific tests and trials, in a variety of circumstances and situations (not just in a lab). There is no way to know the real effects of GMO food with the knowledge we have now. Some people will say its bad, some good, but the reality is that we just don't know one way or another yet.

2) Cross pollination that contaminates non-GMO crops

Micro-organisms can and do travel vast distances. For example micro-organisms from Africa are caught up in the jet stream sent across the air above the Atlantic Ocean and play a crucial part in the ongoing development of the Amazon rainforest. Many who oppose Genetically Modified Food and Crops say that because Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) can spread through nature and interbreed with natural organisms, they would thereby contaminate non-genetically engineered environments and future generations in an unforceable way and uncontrollable way.

In the most part, this has seen to be true with current GMO crops. They have indeed in most cases contaminated non-GMO crops. More information and real data will be supplied in the host of class action suits currently in process against GMO companies such as Monsanto and Aventis (now Bayer). We all look forward to watching the progress of this legal action.

It must be said, that there have been some examples of GMO and non-GMO crops growing side by side with no cross contamination. This has been possible because the farmers work together, to make sure that they know each others growing cycles so that neither crop pollinate at the same time. But can co-ordination like this work on a bigger scale. And as we know that nature works in ways that we can't often predict and can never control, even with the greatest of co-operation how could we ever expect that cross pollination wouldn't occur.

With all this being said, does it even matter if future environments are forever mutated or changed for that what we know of now? Our environments here on this planet have definitely changed and mutated since Earth came into existence and thanks to the images from the Hubble Telescope we can undeniably state that this is the case throughout the Universe. Is the only difference that these other changes or mutations have occured without the inervention of man? Is GMO in accord with nature or not? I hope you take some time to ponder this and come to your own conclusions.

3) Ownership of life forms through unfair patents

If company XYZ is the first to invent GMO carrots, they then patent their invention, it then spreads and contaminate other carrot crops, so that in the end there are only carrots from XYZ company and/or other GMO carrots. Who owns carrots? With the current patent system where anything, including life forms, can be patented then company XYZ does. Normal people everywhere would have to pay company XYZ to eat or grow a carrot.

This may amaze and horrify you. But this is happening. Not only in food, but with life forms found everywhere. Biotech companies for many years have been going into tribes around the world, gaining their trust, and learning their knowledge of plants and their environment that they have learnt over thousands of years (60,000 years for Australian Aboriginals), recreating it in a lab and then patenting it for themselves. Hence, with the current patents laws, this locks out these tribes and everybody else from using this knowledge, without payment to the biotech company. Even worse, if the company may have ulterior motives, and never allow that product or knowledge on the market for anybody at any price.

Even if we were able to address all the other problems or potential problems with GMO crops and foods, it cannot and should not be allowed to be unleashed on the world with the current unfair patenting of life forms. How can anybody but a greedy person, see this any differently?

If this touches a nerve, please don't be quiet about it. Shout it from the roof tops that this is wrong and should be immediately stopped. A wise man once told me that life is not a dress rehearsal. We only get one shot at this that we know of for sure, so don't sit quiet and let yourselves and future generations be at the peril of these greedy corporations who only have one allegiance and that is to money.

GMO might be good. GMO might be bad. It might be something else. It's up to you. It's up to us all...