Genetically Modified Food. The Future?

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Genetically Modified Food.  The Future?

        War, famine, disease, hate, overpopulation; these are all constant struggles that humanity must face every day.  How to address these problems so that the world will be able to continue in a stable, productive way is constantly on the minds of scientist, politicians, peacekeepers and the everyday person.  The issue I’m choosing to discuss is starvation.  With our population ever increasing, how are we going to provide billions of people the proper nutrition?  Do we continue using the farming traditions of the past, or do we look to technological advancements and genetic modification for the answers?

With technology ever changing, our knowledge of genetics is growing and all the while farmland shrinking.  When farmers are producing less harvest per year and having to use more and more pesticides to keep their crops alive, exploring the possibilities of genetic modification (GM) within food is a wise choice.  In fact, I’d say it was the way of the future.  GM foods have several benefits and in many ways are better and more efficient than sustainable agriculture crops.

Scientists have been studying agricultural biotechnology for decades, looking for the best ways to advance our lives.  It involves many complex procedures such as moving key genes from one organism to another, crosspollination and selective breeding of plants.  These and other processes create beneficial traits within the plant species that allow it to grow and survive better than standard, farm grown produce.  Some plants have become resistant to disease and can actually repel potentially devastating insects; this removes the necessity for pesticides.  Sustainable agriculture is the other proposed solution to solving the world’s food crisis.  Sustainable agriculturists believe that with proper irrigation methods, natural fertilizers and insecticides crops of equal yield can be produced, matching that of bioengineered foods.

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GM food products are already a part of our every day life.  “Recent estimates show that 60-70% of foods in the U.S. markets contain GE ingredients, meaning they contain at least a small quantity of some crop that has been genetically engineered. (Genetically Modified Food & Human Health).”  As our knowledge grows and technology advances they will only become more integrated into our society.

Biotechnology has the possibility to remove harmful allergens by altering the plant’s protein structure.  “…Genetic modification can be used to remove or change proteins that are known allergens in plant foods such as the ...

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