Since the mid-1990s, Americans have enjoyed bigger, tastier, more nutritious produce. Farmers and ranchers were able to produce higher yields in less time. The products are also more disease resistant and can grow in a wide range of climates with different soils while requiring less water. So what has caused all these great “food miracles” over the past 20 years? Has Mother Nature decided to give us a break? No, not quite. In fact, these foods are not natural at all. These “food miracles” are all the result of carefully designed scientific experiments in which scientists modify the genetics of plants and animals to give them as many desired characteristics as possible. The result is a genetically modified organism, or GMO. Humans have been trying to improve the quality and quantity of our products since we learned to plant a seed. It was not until 1980 that it was discovered that specific fragments of DNA could be transferred from one organism to another. (History of Genetically Modified Foods) From there, scientists tried to find more ways to select and pass on genes that help plants and animals produce more than they would naturally be able to. In 1983, the first transgenic plant was created, an antibiotic-resistant tobacco plant. In 1990, genetically modified cotton plants were produced. Tomatoes were the first commercially produced GMOs in 1994. In 1995, Monsanto, a biotechnology company, introduced "Round-Up-Ready", a herbicide-resistant soybean. (History of genetically modified foods) It was not until 2000 that scientists discovered that GMOs would be able to produce more nutritious foods. Since then, GMOs have become an important source of paper, a secret to your consumer. Instead of keeping it a secret, prove to the consumer that your GMO is not harmful to them, but companies have not yet been able to do this, otherwise they probably would have done it. The United States and Canada are the only two countries in the world not to label their GMOs. If 9 out of 10 Americans want to know if they're ingesting GMOs, then it's probably necessary. GMOs have many benefits, from producing better-tasting food to allowing plants to produce their own insecticides. However, the evidence is simply not conclusive as to whether GMOs are safe enough for people to consume. We should also have the right to know what we put in our bodies. So the question is: does an apple a day really keep the doctor away? Well, if it's a genetically modified apple, the answer is we just don't know yet..