GMOs are organisms that are created by combining DNA molecules from various sources to provide traits that do not naturally occur. For plants, fruits and vegetables, this can make them more resilient against diseases, pests, pesticides and herbicides, and for fruits, they can become able to bear more fruit.

GMOs were first available in the early 1990’s with plant foods such as soybeans, corn, canola and cottonseed oil and with commercially used cotton. Other GMO foods introduced at the time include Hawaiian papaya, rice, potatoes, sugar beets and tomatoes. Tomatoes were the first commercially grown crop food to be introduced on the market by a California company named Calgene. In 1994, Calgene introduced the FlavrSvr tomato, which ripened at a slower rate. Calgene did this without special labeling but with the approval of the FDA, since these modifications and actions are not legally regulated. However, Calgene soon faced competition from another company called Zeneca, which used a variant of the FlavrSvr tomato to create a tomato paste that was sold in Europe in 1996, thus causing production and profit issues for Calgene. Between 1997 and 2005, the total surface in the United States used to grow GMOs increased by 50%, and even though the majority of GMOs are grown in the U.S., countries such as Brazil and India have been incorporating the growth and use of GMOs in their markets.

The controversy of the safety of using GMOs for food and skincare products is ongoing and may not have a definite answer. Many consumers are wary of using GMOs since these do not naturally exist in nature – some critics have labeled GMOs as “Franken-foods.” Various prominent and independent grocery store chains have opted to not carry GMO fruits and vegetables, along with various skincare companies opting out of using GMO plants and fruits. The recommendations of using GMOs is also mixed: the U.S. and Canada do not require labeling of GMOs, while Europe, Japan, Malaysia and Australia do. Some health and medical experts assert that not knowing the long-term effects of GMOs is enough to not use them, while some scientists state that there is enough food grown in the world, but the issue of distribution is more tied to political reasons rather than whether or not food can sustain.

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