Anonymous groups of anti-GMO farmers and consumers breached these laboratories and destroyed years of research by uprooting plants, stomping on plants, and overturning planters. A concern that goes along with the process of creating GMOs is that due to genes from other organisms being present in the genetically modified organism, there is a possibility that someone with an allergy to the first organism could have an allergic reaction to the GMO. While this only happens in rare cases, simple tests can be performed to check for the presence of an allergen, according to Nayak and colleagues. In the past, the possibility of the presence of allergens has been observed in GM potatoes and GM soybeans (Nayak et al. 114-115).
However, the benefits of genetically modified crops are enormous. With a world population growing exponentially every year, we need more food. And we are also beginning to run out of land, according to Time columnist Bryan Walsh who states that we are "already near the 15% of the Earth's surface that can sustainably be used for farming." The yields that GM crops generate is larger, because they can produce their own herbicides and pesticides. This in turn allows for the production of more food products throughout the world. In third-world countries with high populations where food is scarce such as India, this can make an significant impact. While genetically modified organisms produce a higher quantity of food, they also produce food with higher nutritional value. This is a necessity, as there are many countries with large percentages of their population that are hungry and malnourished. In fact, according to Nayak and colleagues there are 15 million women and children in third world countries that are deficient in Vitamin A, a key nutrient that affects many parts of the body. Scientists have been working to create golden rice that contain about 20% more proteins including Vitamin A (Nayak et al.
