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Manipulating Food for Everyone

As global warming decreases crop yields and population growth increases the number of hungry mouths, genetically modified food is gaining momentum as a way to fight global hunger

But do the benefits outweigh the costs of this development?

East Africa is struggling to overcome its worst drought in 60 years, which rapidly abolished the meager food supplies and left twelve million people facing famine. Images of overcrowded refugee camps and malnourished children not only shocked the international community, but also raised the question of food as one of the key concerns of the future. According to many experts, the famine of East Africa is merely a local manifestation of the imminent global food crisis, characterised by a growing gap between supply and demand of food.

The threat of a global food crisis arises from ecological and social reasons. First, a warmer climate is making growing seasons shorter, hotter and drier, which in turn results in smaller crop yields. To make matters worse, a new study indicates that the regions already suffering chronic food problems, such as Africa and South Asia, will be the "hotspots” of climate change, predicting that in less than 40 years, the prospect of climate-hit harvests could imperil hundreds of millions of already-impoverished people.

Second, the number of mouths to feed is growing steadily. By 2050, the world's population is expected to rise from 6.9 billion to 9.1 billion. The actual demand for food is predicted to increase even quicker, as people around the world become wealthier and begin to consume diets are richer in animal protein. As a result ever more plentiful feed crop yields will be required.

Increased use of genetically modified crops has been presented as a way to increase food production especially in developing regions. According to the advocates of genetic manipulation, new molecular methods can protect plants from diseases and pests and increase the crop yields by making the plants less vulnerable to climate changes.

Genetic modification refers the insertion or deletion of genes, or transfer of genes between different organisms. The first commercially grown genetically modified crop was a tomato, which was modified to ripen without softening. Other commonly genetically modified foods include soybean with herbicide resistant gene taken from bacteria, corn with insect resistance genes from a bacterium and rice genetically modified to contain beta-carotene from maize.

In 2010, crops modified by molecular methods were grown in 29 countries on more than 150 million hectares. The biggest producer of genetically modified food is the United States, where first modified products were introduced to consumers already in the early 1990's. Currently, around 70% of the supermarket foods contain genetically modified foods in varying proportions. The idea of genetically modified food has been much harder to sell to European consumers, and many European countries have banned modified crops altogether.

Famine devastated Africa seems to be revising its negative position in the question of genetically modified food. So far only four countries (Kenya, Burkina Faso, Egypt, and South Africa) have allowed the full-scale importation and production of genetically modified crops, but interest is rising. Current initiatives include salt-tolerant rice for use in degraded land where salinisation has reduced yields; a disease-resistant rice is developed in Uganda, so-called “iron beans” in Rwanda to tackle anaemia, and an African banana resistant to a devastating wilt disease.

Opponents have criticised genetically modified food on several grounds. First, there is a concern that type of nutrition could be unsafe for people. Although industry is eager to quote studies stating that genetically modified food does not increase health risks, there are some worrying findings about the harmful impacts of genetically modified crops. For example, in Russia rats fed genetically modified soy developed sick offsprings, and in India sheep grazing on modified cotton plants died in large numbers. In England, Arpad Pusztai and his team discovered that rats fed modified potatoes were smaller in size and body weight than ordinary potato-fed control rats. Furthermore, their liver, heart and brain sizes were smaller and their immune system weaker.

Another aspect of criticism focuses on the ecological consequences of genetically modified foods. They are commonly perceived as a threat for biodiversity. For example, if there are only a few types of genetically modified corn and those crops make up for the vast majority of the crops planted worldwide, when a disease eventually finds a way to harm the modified crop, it will rapidly lead to a global famine. Therefore, as investors point out in finance, we must diversify our portfolio of crops.

Third, genetically modified crops are patented by a few corporations, such as the US gene giants Monsanto and Dupont. This means that unlike in traditional farming, where farmers save their own seed from year to year, genetically modified seeds are considered as intellectual property that needs to be purchased from their owner. Therefore, there is a fear that once farmers become dependent on modified seeds, they will become dependent on the patent-holders of these crops.

The question of genetically modified food is highly controversial. Although modifying plants to become more resistant might have some benefits, the risks seem too high to take. The current research is not comprehensive enough to reveal or predict the long-term consequences that genetically modified food might have to our health or the ecosystem. Furthermore, the idea of food as a patented intellectual property, as promoted by corporations, is strongly against the western perception of food as a basic human right.

by Marko Kananen