Genetically modified organisms' benefits outweigh the harm

P1A- Herbicide resistant crops are explicitly made so people can use as much herbicides as they want without hurting the crops. That's literally what the crops are made for. I'm not sure what Con proposes herbicide resistant plants are made for if that premise is incorrect. If that is not enough, several studies have linked herbicide resistant crops to an increase in herbicide use. Additionally, Please refer to my rebuttal of C1B for further refutations. Source: . http://www.justlabelit.org... P1B- This rebuttal relies SOLELY on the easily falsifiable claim that GMOs won't escape into local ecosystems. In fact, everything from GM canola to rice has been found to have escaped into wild. For the latter example, scientists are already worried that GM rice will out-compete wild crops. Sources: . http://www.gmeducation.org... . http://www.scientificamerican.com... P2A Con asserts my argument is invalid because it is about big business, not GMOs. But the very essence of GMOs is that they are made by big business. The only people who have enough money and expertise to manufacture GMOs are big businesses. Big business and GMOs are completely intertwined. Additionally the "guns don't kill people, people kill people" is famous simply because it is so ridiculous. It has been disprove by everyone from politicians to psychiatrists. Lastly, in response to Con's claim that regulations will be set up, we still don't have adequate regulations for factory farms and similar, which are much, much, older then GMOs. Sources: . https://www.psychologytoday.com... P2B Con challenges me to name one incident of GMO's being linked to health problems. I will do so with relish. I quote from the Institute for Responsible Technology: "Since [the released FDA warnings about the dangers of GMOs], findings include: -Thousands of sheep, buffalo, and goats in India died after grazing on Bt cotton plants -Mice eating GM corn for the long term had fewer, and smaller, babies -More than half the babies of mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks, and were smaller -Testicle cells of mice and rats on GM soy change significantly -By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies -Rodents fed GM corn and soy showed immune system responses and signs of toxicity -Cooked GM soy contains as much as 7-times the amount of a known soy allergen -Soy allergies skyrocketed by 50% in the UK, soon after GM soy was introduced -The stomach lining of rats fed GM potatoes showed excessive cell growth, a condition that may lead to cancer. -Studies showed organ lesions, altered liver and pancreas cells, changed enzyme levels, etc. " As we can see, GMOs definitely have been linked to health problems, which completely disproves cons refutation. Source: . http://www.responsibletechnology.org... I will now refute Con's arguments C1A The first example Con brings up is a GM soybean called "Plenish" that is apparently healthier then regular soybeans. It is interesting that Con brings up this example, as recent studies have shown Plenish to be only marginally healthier. A report by the University of California stated that "researchers compared the effects of [Plenish and regular soybean oil] in experiments performed in the lab on mice. They found that the GM soybean oil is just as unhealthy as regular soybean oil in that it also induces obesity, diabetes and fatty liver. " This proves that the effects of "Plenish" are overstated and don't supports Con's case. Additionally, soybean oil is a fairly unhealthy product to begin with, and it's much easier to simply look for are healthy alternative to soybean oil instead of trying to make it better through genetic engineering. Con then goes on to talk about GM potatoes that don't have carcinogen, and then tries to connect that to the obesity problem in America. This is a weird connection, as carcinogens cause cancer, not obesity, and don't have anything to do the chronic obesity problem in America. Cons third example revolves around the controversial Golden Rice. Golden Rice has costed over 100 million dollars to develop, even though Vitamin A supplements, which are much less riskier and well understood, can be provided to children for as little as 25 cents a year. Additionally, diverse and sustainable farming practices are a much better alternative to these issues. This will be discussed further in my counter-plan Sources: . http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu... . http://www.thehindubusinessline.com... C1B First I would like to point out that Monsanto is obviously a biased source. Additionally, herbicide-resistant crops just promotes further use of herbicides, which are very harmful substances that do no good for us or the environment. For example Roundup, the worlds most widely used herbicide, has been linked to everything from kidney disease to birth defects to cancer. In fact, the makers of Roundup were found guilty of false advertising in France, as the product was not biodegradable or left the soil clean, as they claimed. And guess who the manufacturer of roundup is- MONSANTO, the same company whose herbicide resistant crops Con has given so much praise. It is also pretty clear that Monsanto makes herbicide resistant crops just to sell more of their herbicide. This is a fact. Even Monsanto admits it- the herbicide resistant crops are called "roundup-ready crops" and are marketed as crops that aren't harmed by roundup. So basically, these herbicide resistant crops that Con praises are just a tool to promote harmful herbicides Sources: . http://www.truth-out.org... . http://news.bbc.co.uk... . http://web.mit.edu... C2A This whole argument rests on an un-cited study. We have no idea how this study was performed, or who it was performed by, so we have no reason to believe its validity. Additionally, Con talks about the dangers of pesticide, but completely ignores the harms of herbicide, which GMO's promote. C3A Also un-cited. Furthermore, proposal sounds ridiculous. If Mosquitos can't breed, then they won't be able to reproduce and pass on these infertility genes, defeating the whole purpose of making lots of mosquitos infertile.