Gentically Modified Foods

GM Foods and World Hunger

The world population is over 6 billion and is expected to double in the next 50 years. To ensure an adequate and reliable source of food for this amount of people is going to be a challenge. The argument that hunger is a complex socioeconomic phenomenon, tied to lack of resources to grow or buy food, is correct. Equally correct is the argument that existing food supplies could adequately feed the world population. But how food and other resources are distributed among individuals, regions, or the various nations is determined by the complex interaction of market forces and institutions around the world. Unless our civic societies can come up quickly with an economic system that allocates resources more equitably and more efficiently than the present one, 50 years from now we will be faced with an even greater challenge. Calorie for calorie there will not be enough food to feed the projected population of about 12 billion. With the purchasing power and wealth concentrated in the developed countries, and over 90 percent of the projected population growth likely to occur in developing and emerging economies, it is not difficult to predict where food shortages will occur. Unless we are ready to accept starvation there really is only one good alternative: discover ways to increase food production from existing resources. Bottom line is that may want to argue against Western-style capitalism and market institutions if they so choose to—but their argument is hardly relevant to the issue of biotechnology.

Moral and Ethical Dimensions of Scientific Literacy

SPRING 2004 VOL. 13, NO. 1

Troy D. Sadler

Why use Genetic Engineering?

From the standpoint of the Food and Drug Administration, the important thing for consumers to know about these new foods is that they will be every bit as safe as the foods now on store shelves. All foods, whether traditionally bred or genetically engineered, must meet the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Proponents of genetic engineering claim many potential benefits of this new technology. Current medical applications include genetically engineered human insulin, human growth hormone, gene probes to detect genetic diseases, Hepatitis B vaccine, monoclonal antibodies to diagnose infections, and tissue plasminogen activator to dissolve blood clots. Some of the more controversial applications of genetic engineering are in the area of food production. The promised benefits of genetically engineered food production include:

• Reduced use of pesticides