- Mathu Priya -
The population has topped to 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years ensuring in adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways.
Genetic Modification of Food, the alteration of the genome of plants grown for food in order to produce crops with specific advantages such as improved yield or resistance to herbicides and insect pests.
Nutrition Malnutrition is common in third world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. However, rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated.
Genetically-modified foods have the potential to solve many of the world's hunger and malnutrition problems, and to help protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides and herbicides. Yet there are many challenges ahead for governments, especially in the areas of safety testing, regulation, international policy and food labeling. Many people feel that genetic engineering is the inevitable wave of the future and that we cannot afford to ignore a technology that has such enormous potential benefits. However, we must proceed with caution to avoid causing unintended harm to human health and the environment as a result of our enthusiasm for this powerful technology.
Growers, who will benefit from the resistance of crops to insect pests, viruses, and fungi, by the introduction of natural insecticides or fungicides from other species, so reducing the need for application of agricultural chemicals, hence also an environmental gain; resistance to herbicides, so that a field of the crop can be sprayed with a weedkiller without damaging the crop, so reducing the amount of work required; increased yields or specific tolerance to cold, salinity, or drought, so permitting crops to be grown in regions that at present have low agricultural productivity.
Food processors and manufacturers, who will benefit from produce with a longer shelf-life, and better properties for processing and manufacture. Consumers, who will have cheaper and more plentiful food as a result of the advantages to growers and processors, as well as possibly better flavour, colour, and texture in the food, and possibly also increased nutritional value or other health benefits.
Concerns have been raised about the business ethics that may drive the application of these powerful technologies, especially since the products concerned are often staple foods. Many people are unhappy about a herbicide-resistant crop being developed and marketed by a company that also manufactures the herbicide, raising the suspicion that the main beneficiary will be the company concerned rather than the consumer. Equally, many people are extremely unhappy about the development of the so-called “terminator gene”, which causes seeds from genetically modified crops to be sterile. This would force farmers to buy fresh seed from the supplier each year, instead of keeping a proportion of the harvest for the next season’s seed. The major plant biotechnology companies have (at least at present) undertaken not to pursue further development of terminator genes, although a number have been planted.
The spread of modified plants with survival advantages would lead to the loss of wild plants. Increasingly, plant breeders are realizing the value of preserving wild species and older cultivated varieties as a means of enriching the gene pool of new cultivars.
Even if there are no obvious adverse environmental effects, cross-pollination of conventional crops by GM crops could endanger the livelihood of organic farmers, whose produce might no longer be recognized as truly organic.
Scientists have warned that non-target species can be affected by genetically modified food. GE food may be safe, but mention that the long-term effects are still unknown. There is a technology available suitably called the Terminator technology, which is designed to genetically switch off a plant's ability to germinate a second time. Many believe it is purely a business idea by forcing farmers to buy a fresh supply of seeds each year -- many of whom are in the developing world and cannot afford to do this. The traditional practice (tried and tested for thousands of years) of saving seeds for the next harvest comes under threat due to a US patent on this technology to prevent "unauthorized seed-saving" by farmers. Altieri feels that biotechnology has emerged through the quest for profit, not to solve the problems of small farmers. While many biotech companies claim that genetically engineered foods will help alleviate hunger and increase food security, their acts of patenting the knowledge and food that has been developed over centuries itself may be a threat to food security, due to more concentrated ownership and the political advantages that goes with that. The large biotech firms are mainly from western nations, especially America.
GM Food crops threatens the world with:
loss of agricultural biodiversity
loss of farmers' livelihoods
loss of public sector research and development in agriculture
loss of public sector seed banks
Knowledge is proprietary. It belongs to corporations and is not accessible to farmers
In India, this is a cause for some concern as scientists fear for the livelihood of 400 million farmers and for food security in the country. Already some poorer Indian farmers have been driven to suicide. It is feared that this type of technology could be used to make the poorer farmers even more dependent.
The potential benefits of genetically engineered food are exciting. At the same time though, there are real concerns on biodiversity, the ecosystem and people's safety if such food has not been tested properly and guaranteed to be safe. As economics are factored in, there is also some concern as to who benefits from such technology, people in need, or people who need more.
While genetically engineered food could help alleviate hunger, it would not solve it, as it would not help tackle these root causes.
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