Genetic Engineering and Developing Countries

The genetic engineering of foods has been the subject of much controversy since its first appearance in the mid 1980’s. As scientists began to learn more about genetically engineered foods and the benefits of such foods, their potential also began to be realized. Developing countries, because of poor nutrition, would benefit the most from modified foods. Millions of people in developing countries die each year form lack of nutrition and hundreds of thousands go blind. Overpopulation is another problem facing developing countries and without food and nutrients survival will be tough. Alternately, there exist genetically modified foods, which can supply these poor nations with the proper nutrients and agricultural knowledge to prevent any nutritional and overpopulation problems from occurring. Many benefits can come from genetically engineered foods on top of aiding developing countries. Humans need to get over the fear f genetically engineered foods and start to utilize biotechnology in everyday life.

One suggested use of genetically engineered foods would be to aid developing countries that are struggling because of a lack of proper nutrients in their diets and overpopulation. A shocking statistic is that over 13% of the worlds population does not receive enough nutrients to prevent malnutrition and vitamin A deficiencies. Another horrifying statistic is that by the year 2020 the world population will exceed 7.5 billion people with 98% of the increase coming from less developed countries (Mary Arends-Kuenning and Flora Makundi “Agricultural biotechnology”). Supplying enough food to not only feed the growing number of people but to also provide tem with enough nutrients might seem impossible, but with the use of genetic en...

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...esistant genes, scientists can enable farmers to flourish on land considered to be not farmable.

Humans need to embrace biotechnology in order to secure their future. By implementing this policy an effort will be made to ensure that all future food and

nutrition needs will be met. Also, healthier, faster growing foods will benefit, not only less developed countries, but also the developed world. This technology has not yet been introduced to most crops but hundreds of millions of people need this technology now and can no longer wait for regulations and speculations. As Neal C. Stewart et. al. state, “the key is to determine the importance of the risks as weighed against the benefits”(836). Undeniably, the benefits certainly outweigh the risks. Humans must not fear genetics and must also embrace this technology, which is the future of all food production.