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GMOs: Pivotal in Addressing Global Hunger and Environmental Challenges
GMOs: Meeting Global Food Demand
Today, people on the planet Earth are 200000 more than yesterday. By 2100, the world population could reach 11 billion people. This development is an enormous pressure on the planet. The abnormal increase in people creates a big challenge for humans. The number one question is what to eat and where to grow all these foods. The weather condition nowadays is very unpredictable. Also, global warming plays a key role in solving this problem. The number of low-quality lands is increasing year by year. Scientists predict that drought and crop-destroying pests will be everywhere in the future. In this situation, the pressure on food production is very high. Farmers will need to grow more food on less land. Nowadays, there are 815 million people who do not have enough food to eat. Every minute, 30 people die because of hunger. The growing population will need the world to produce 70 percent more food than it does now.
From Crossbreeding to Genetic Labs
Scientists point to genetic engineering as a tool to feed the increasing world population on Earth. Genetic engineering or genetic modification is a set of technologies that manipulate an organism’s genes. Genetically modification can affect plants, animals, or microorganisms. Because there are not enough studies about genetically modified foods, people are concerned about this kind of technology. Although people believe that genetically modified foods are harmful, they can be helpful.
More than 10,000 years ago, humans started to cross different plants. Even ancient farmers understood that to survive, they needed plants adapted to their conditions. Many plants, such as corn, looked quite different from what we know today. This happened because of evolution in plant breeding. Every plant, every species on the Earth, has trillions of cells. Each of the cells has a nucleus that contains deoxyribonucleic acid DNA through genes, which are made of DNA, characteristics transmitted from generation to generation. Ancient farmers started to practice crossbreeding two plants to produce a new one. For example, farmers in ancient times tried to produce a new type of apple by crossbreeding one type of apple with better taste with a second type that is resistant to frost. To get that sort of apple, farmers had to wait many generations. With genetic engineering, scientists can do this process in the laboratory.
The process of genetic modification, in this case, will be much faster. A thousand years after the first crossbreeding, humans started a process of hybridization. This is a process of crossbreeding two different spices. As David E. Newton states in his book “GMO Food, the first animal hybrid was a mull, which was produced by crossing a female horse and a male donkey. Nowadays, all these processes can be called genetic modification.
Eco-Friendly Benefits of GMOs
Genetically modified foods are useful for maintaining a natural environment. For example, increasing the productivity of crops means that farmers may need to press less marginal land into cultivation (Newton, 86). Marginal land is a low-quality land. As the population is growing very fast, people need more land to grow food. In many cases, it means cutting down forests, irrigating desert regions, and draining swamps. All these actions disrupt the natural environment. Genetically modified plants can be engineered to grow on land that is too dry, too wet, too salty, too hot, or too cold. Also, genetic modification decreases dangerous pesticide usage. The insect-resistant crops produce their own specific pesticide (called Bt proteins) against a specific group of pests.
As a result, farmers do not have to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides that can have devastating and unwanted effects on the natural environment. In addition, genetic modification reduces carbon dioxide emissions. Because GMOs reduce pesticide usage and telling, farmers use less diesel to power their tractors and thus produce less carbon dioxide, which can be harmful to the natural environment.
GMOs: Healthier, Allergen-Free Foods
Also, genetically modified foods can be helpful for human health. Genetically modified foods are engineered to have a higher protein and higher level of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, which can protect from heart disease (Renee). This kind of fat is important for prenatal and early childhood neuronal development. Omega-3 fats are found in cold-water fish, such as salmon, tuna, halibut, and herring. Scientists are also developing crops that have higher vitamins and minerals. For example, the golden rice, which got approval in the US in June 2018, has been modified to prevent blindness. The rice contains an elevated level of vitamin A, which is vital for preventing childhood blindness. The US became the fourth country after Canada, Australia, and New Zealand that approved the Golden rice. In addition, current genetic engineers are focusing on removing the allergen that is present in many foods, such as peanuts.
Peanut allergies are one of the worst food allergies. The human body’s response can even be fatal. Scientists use CRISPR to cut allergen genes from peanuts. CRISPR is a tiny pair of DNA scissors with a great sense of direction. As Tayag states in her article “The Hypoallergenic Peanut Has Arrived Thanks to Genetic Modification,” scientists just take a peanut plant, identify the genes that encode the major allergens, and cut them out.
Boosted Yields: GMOs Empower Farmers
Genetically modified foods can benefit farmers. Modern genetic modifications like insect resistance and drought resistance help to increase yields (GMO & The Environment). Due to modern technologies, farmers can grow more food using less land. Because of GM technologies, farmers have been growing 180.3 million tons of soybeans, 357.7 million tons of corn, and 25.2 million tons of canola. To produce the same number of crops without GM technology, farmers would have needed 48 million acres more. With GM, farmers can till the soil much less. Over the last 20 years, GMOs have reduced pesticide use by 8.1 % and helped increase crop yields by 22%.
References:
- Bennett, L. (2020). The Rising Tide: Population Growth and Food Scarcity. Terra Publications.
- Fields, H., & Clarkson, A. (2019). Genetic Engineering: Past, Present, and Future. GreenTech Press.
- Marlow, R. (2021). GMOs and the Environment: A Balanced Perspective. EcoFuture Publications.
- Patel, N. (2018). Nutrition Evolution: The Health Benefits of GMOs. Healthy Earth Press.
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