Biotechnology can be an answer for a hollow stomach that is aching for something to be chewed on. It has been supported by the World Health Organization that bio-crops could and be the answer for over one billion people living in absolute poverty. Biotechnology is the altering or adding of genetics to create superior or better products. Biotechnology is used in fields such as medicine, pharmaceutics, and agriculture. Biotechnology can alter staple crops like maize to become more resistant to insects and drought. It can also pump more nutrients and vitamins into crops like yams, white maize, sorghum, wheat and rice. These “superior” seeds could help subsistent farmers retain more crops during droughts and build up stronger immune systems against diseases, and abolish diseases that are caused by a deprivation of certain essential nutrients. With better crops families may be able to send their children to school instead of the fields looking for food to consume. Many industrialized countries are against the idea of biotechnology because it may threaten their established markets with undeveloped countries. Others are fearful that biotechnology is playing with nature and could cause possible horrific outcomes. However, there has been no evidence that alter plants could inflect harm to people. In fact, the alter plants are less resistant to insects which causes less herbicides and pesticides usage. So why are undeveloped governments against these crops?
Good Plants
By keanan - Posted on October 15th, 2008
Tagged: Blog Action Day
• Better future
Finally keanan, a point that I can full-heartedly agree with you on. For too long the radical environmentlaist movement has been suppressing the use of biologically enhanced crops, yet this technology can help fight hunger in its tracks. This argument is similar to the banning of DDT by Rachel Carson and her stoned hippie buddies. If we can use biologically enhanced crops, which keanan correctly pointed out has no viable scientific arguments against it, we can win the victory and save lives that we shoudl have won against the banning of DDT.
Government has no other end, but the preservation of property. - John Locke
Human survival always come first!!!!!!!!!!
we currently produce more than enough food to satisfy the hunger of all people on Earth (we produce 1.5 times our food need). Yet, almost a billion people on Earth is hungry. This is not because of a lack of production, but because of political and economic agendas. This is not to say we have maximized our productive capability. Most farmers on this planet are not educated. They can use the knowledge we have gathered with horticultural studies, and be more productive.
My point is that we do not need artificial means to get rid of poverty. we have human resources ( a lot of it), and we have sun light. I do not see any excuse for not being able to get rid of poverty while these two resources are present.
I am ethically against bio engineering. I do not support manipulating with what is not ours. Plants are not ours, but are their own being. We have no right to manipulate its genes and thereby dictate its specific evolution. We must be humble with our knowledge and keep to our own yard.
we currently produce more than enough food to satisfy the hunger of all people on Earth (we produce 1.5 times our food need). Yet, almost a billion people on Earth is hungry. This is not because of a lack of production, but because of political and economic agendas. This is not to say we have maximized our productive capability. Most farmers on this planet are not educated. They can use the knowledge we have gathered with horticultural studies, and be more productive.
My point is that we do not need artificial means to get rid of poverty. we have human resources ( a lot of it), and we have sun light. I do not see any excuse for not being able to get rid of poverty while these two resources are present.
I am ethically against bio engineering. I do not support manipulating with what is not ours. Plants are not ours, but are their own being. We have no right to manipulate its genes and thereby dictate its specific evolution. We must be humble with our knowledge and keep to our own yard.
the statistice that states that we produce enough food to feed the world is based on calorie intake which averages about 2,200 per person. However the statistic doesn't state rather these foods are healthful and can provide everyone with a healthy diet. Second people that live in extreme poverty ( 1.2 billion people) are forced to live active lives , which an average man would probably need more than 2200 calories and teenagers would need at least 2400-2800 calories.
i do agree that many governments local and international prevent food from coming in to these improvish areas. the main reason biotechnology is important is because these plants are resistant to drought, acidity in the soil and flooding which occur often in the sub-sharan Africa where food is needed. there is nothing that has been proven wrong with these plants. Just sunlight is not enough for starving people.
you take anitbiotics? they are also genetically altered? do you consume foods that are fortified or enriched with vitamins? This is what biotechnology is doing for people providing more nutrients for people to become more self-sufficient.
is it not ethical to deny food to someone when they are starving.
there is no such thing as ethics when someone is allowed to starve to death because they were not allowed to eat something on the grounds that it was genetically altered when it has not been proven to cause harm to anything.
we dont need biotechnology to grow plants in harsh conditions. human beings have been living in africa for over a hundred thousand years. there are many other means to protecting one's crop from drought, and acidity. those methods require more work, such as building protective dams against floods, building irrigation canals and such. i would rather have us employ means that do not alter nature, but use it to our benefits. we can use science and (little) technology to employ techniques and systems that will get the work done. we should be conservative with nature, because it is not ours.