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Paige Booth 4/5/12 LA101H Feeding a Hungry Population An article by Live Science stated that Americans throw away 40% of their food and that food waste per person has increased by 50% from 1974. Contrast this with scientists ’ belief that by the year 2050, the world will not have enough food to support its population since it is predicted to have doubled by that year. We all have either ourselves or family members who will live to see 2050 and most of us would rather not run out of food (Britt). While these issues haven’t affected us much in the United States, it has already started causing problems in countries around the world. The four staple crops of agriculture, wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans, have dropped to worrisome levels due to climate change and have caused prices to be raised and in some cases, even doubled. It has worsened hunger for tens of millions of poor people. These increased prices have caused political uproar in countries from Mexico to Yemen and even caused a riot in Haiti in 2008. Food prices have also been linked to the Arab uprisings (Britt). With the use of genetically modified foods, the farmers will be able to provide more food for our population despite people’s pe ople’s skepticism of genetically modified food. There are many factors that contribute to the issues causing the food shortage. A major issue is the growing population. In countries such as India and the Sub-Saharan African countries, the population is growing at an enormous rate. India is soon expected to surpass China as the largest country in the world (Britt). The populations of these countries are becoming too large to support. In particular, it is becoming especially hard for poor families in these countries
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since the food has become so expensive due to a lack of crops. In the last count the global population was 6.92 billion but it is expected to reach 9 billion by 2044 (Britt). With populations growing at this rate there need to be more ways to feed them. The population is not the only problem that is affecting the food supply though. There are plenty of environmental factors that are contributing as well. While it is very hard to realize in the Western countries, the world is also experiencing a water shortage which makes it very difficult to water all of the plants. Since the population is growing at such a huge rate there is more of a demand for fresh drinking water. 1.1 billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water which is more than 1 out of 6 people (World Water Council). A growing need for water is drying up fresh water reserves faster than nature can replenish them. This leaves little water for plants and agriculture. Another environmental factor is the desertification of arable “This, coupled with spatial and temporal variations in water land. The World Water Council says “This, availability, means that the water to produce food for human consumption, industrial processes and all the other uses is becoming scarce.” (World Water Council). Especially in the SubSaharan African countries the arable land has been destroyed by desertification which makes it unable able to use for agriculture. Desertification is when land is repeatedly used for farming purposes and is not cared for. Since arable land is already somewhat scarce especially in SubSaharan Africa, this leaves little land to farm. Finally a huge factor in the food supply is drastic climate change. Even in the Western countries we can notice that the climate has gone through some dramatic changes and how it has horrible effects on plants. With the hotter weather plants are being dried up faster and with the lack of water there is little to do to help them. The hotter weather makes it difficult to grow edible crops.
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The question is what can we do to delay the problems that this food shortage is causing? This is where genetically modified food comes in. Genetically modified crops have their genetic makeup altered by a special set of technologies (Department of Energy Genomes Project). These crops are better able to survive climate change, less water, and pests. The scientists pick the best qualities of a crop and reproduce those in other crops. This ensures that more crops reach maturation and farmers make more money because they are able to sell more of their yield. come from the United States As of 2012, 53% of the world’s world ’s genetically modified crops come but that percent has plateaued since people have become skeptical of genetically modified crops. However, the percent of genetically modified crops has been steadily increasing in less developed countries. This is probably because they are the countries that are most affected by the food shortage. In 2006, 252 million acres of transgenic, or genetically modified, crops were planted in 22 countries by 10.3 million farmers. Most of these plants were insect resistant and were able to endure worse climate changes (Department of Energy Genomes Project). Since 2006 the use of these crops has become controversial. The skepticism of genetically modified food started when people began wondering what the effects of genetically modified crops were on people. The government has investigated the effects of genetically modified food though and found that there are no proven side effects (Whitman). Some people believe that it increases the number of allergic people in the world but this is not proven (Whitman). There were some tests done by people for an article in a magazine called Lancet, which wanted to prove that genetically modified food was bad by making rats eat food with a snowdrop flower lectin that was being made by some of the scientists involved in genetically modifying food. The rats involved in the test died which caused a huge uproar and skepticism at genetically modified foods but it then was found out that the drug is not even
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involved in genetically modifying food and was lethal to all mammals. The scientists were only using the snowdrop flower lectin to study the methodology of the drug and were never intended to be digested (Whitman). Despite the flaws in this test it is used by a lot of people who are against genetically modified food. Another huge issue dealing with genetically modified crops is labeling. The United States government does not require labeling because it would cost a large amount of money to test each crop to figure out the percent of contamination from the genetically modified on the nonmodified crops since many farmers grow both and have them near each other. This large amount of money used for testing would be absorbed by the consumer which would continue to raise the prices of crops instead of decreasing (Whitman). Genetically modified crops have been banned in Europe which also caused uproar from genetically modified crops companies. According to the newspaper The Guardian, the European Parliament backed plans to let member states choose whether to ban genetically modified crops th
July 5 , 2011. It allowed member states to ban or restrict the cultivation of genetically modified food on their territory which were deemed safe by the European Food Safety Authority. The reasons they stated for allowing member states to ban these crops does not include health risks. They state environmental grounds because of the lack of data on negative potential consequences. They also stated socio-economic grounds because of the cost of measures to avoid an unintentional presence of genetically modified seeds in other crops. There have been some “But the problems with the European Union ’s proposal though as stated by T he Guardian “But proposals have sparked a wave of criticism, with businesses fearing they could lead to fragmentation of the internal market, bringing legal uncertainty for farmers. Some of the EU executive's proposals have also been deemed incompatible with World Trade Organisation
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(WTO) rules.” rules.” So far 6 of the countries in Europe have banned the crops but it does not stop them from being imported to the country (Alapekkala). Another reason some people are skeptical of genetically modified crops is because the technology is mostly held by the more developed countries. Skeptics think that it would give the more developed countries even more influence over less developed countries. Research shows that genetically modified foods are plateauing in more developed countries but rising in less developed countries (Department of Energy Genomes Project). Also some companies have decided to sell their seeds at a discounted price to people in countries where they cannot afford the genetically modified crops. Obviously the information is not only staying in the more developed countries. If there was a way to get past people’s skepticism of genetically modified food they would realize that these crops could have a huge benefit to the world. The crops are designed to take up fewer resources which would mean less desertification of land and more fresh drinking water left for the people. With less desertification, more arable land would be available to plants more crops to feed more people. These plants are also capable of handling worse climate changes which means more of the crops would make it through the hotter weather. Since wheat and corn dry out at temperatures above 95 degrees making plants that are better capable of handling extreme heat is beneficial to everyone (Vastag and Eilperin). More crops reaching maturation means there will be more food for people. Another benefit of genetically modified food is that they actually help the environment by increasing nutrients in the soil. Since genetically modified crops take less nutrients from the soil there is more left there to plant more crops (Schmidhuber and Tubiello). Obviously we cannot support our population on organically grown crops like in the past and there are few solutions.
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While some people may believe that genetically modified foods are controversial, there is no research to prove that genetically modified foods are harmful. More research is definitely needed in the area to assure the public that they are safe but time is running out. Whether the solution is genetically modified food or something else it will need to be implemented soon if we wish to avoid the food shortage. No one wants to live in a world where there is not enough food to eat. Just imagine a world with no more corn or rice.
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Sources Alapekkala, Outi. "Europe Paves Way for GM Crop Bans." Guardian. 06 Jul 2011: n. page. Print. . Britt, Robert Roy. "Global Food Shortage Becomes Urgent as Planet Warms." LiveScience. (2011): n. page. Print. . Schmidhuber, Josef, and Francesco Tubiello. "Global Food Security Under Climate Change." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Pennsylvania State University, 11/12/2007. Web. 7 Apr 2012. . United States. Department of Energy Genome Programs. Genetically Modified Food and Organisms. 2008. . Vastag, Brian, and Juliet Eilperin. "Report: Global Warming Already Crimping Crop Production, Pushing Prices Higher." Washington Post . (2011): n. page. Print. . Whitman, Deborah B. "Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?." ProQuest . (2012): n.
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/g guides/gmfood/overview. mfood/overview.php>. php>. page. Print.< http://www.csa.com/discovery "Water Crisis." World Water Council. N.p., 2010. Web. 11 Apr 2012. .
