Genetically Modified Crops

Jacob Curtis

December 7, 2007

Rough Draft

With the world’s population booming at 6 billion plus, many economies would be devastated by a poor agricultural season due to bad weather, insect infestation, or poor seed quality. What if it were possible to greatly decrease, or even eliminate, these seemingly uncontrollable elements? Genetic food modification allows the ability to produce larger, riper, and more crops. This may seem too good to be true; in some people’s opinions, it is. For the past fifteen years, bioengineering of agricultural products has become a growing, controversial issue. With the obvious benefits come larger concerns such as scientific ethics, health and the environment, and labeling. Genetically modified crops, with proper testing, will begin to solve world issues such as malnutrition, vaccine shortages, and chemical destruction in the environment.

With the assimilation of genetically modified crops into the economy becoming more common worldwide, the food supply of many countries struggling to produce crops has drastically improved. Malnutrition, being one of, if not the world’s largest problem can be significantly minimized with the use of genetically altered crops (Rivermouth Acton Group Inc.). A reason for an economy’s inability to thrive can be due to poor soil quality and weak crop yields, with a seed genetically modified to grow in soil with minimal nutrients and/or below average rainfall, economies in the past that looked to be dying now have the capability to strengthen.

Deborah Whitman, who graduated from John Hopkins University with a Masters Degree in biotechnology wrote, “Genetically Altered Foods: Harmful or Helpful” in which she provides an excellent example or how malnutrition can be avoided with the use of genetically altered crops. An example of an ordinary crop in a third world country is rice. Third world countries are able to grow plentiful amounts to feed many people, but rice alone does not provide all the nutrients needed to prevent malnutrition (Whitman 3). Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences designed a strain of rice that provides the consumer with their needed vitamin A and iron (Whitman 3). This rice has been nicknamed “golden rice” and is offered to any third world country that requests it. The ability to create more of and healthier crops is only one of many possible capabilities of genetically modified crops. Another possibility is pharmaceutical products grown within fruits and vegetables.

Genetically modified foods impact more areas of our lives than we realize, another major category often overlooked are pharmaceuticals. Production of medicines and vaccines are often expensive and necessitate special storage. Many countries that do not have the resources to develop or pay for proper