Technology Won’t Feed the World’s Hungry

Summary:
This essay by Anuradha Mittal was subjected toward the problems surrounding the use of genetically engineered food. The essay opens with a discussing about the first world treatment of the hunger epidemic sweeping the globe. Mittal says that that citizens of these first world country are too consumed with notions concerning the safety of their food and issues of biodiversity in ecosystems that they over look the glaring fact that less fortunate people around to world are going hungry. The more privileged could be doing more with what they have to insure that these people’s suffering is eased. Genetically engineered food that would produce higher yields and be more nutritious by containing vitamins are not being grown out of fear that they are dangerous. The problem seeps onto international food organization that lacks the competence to deliver food to where it is need. The poor in some of these country’s are left to starve all the while food is rotting away because they cannot buy it. The farmers in these countries are hurting too because if they lower their prices then they cannot support their families, so they are resorting to less ideal means of caring for their families. In short the people of these countries are given to option to starve to risk eating this unsafe food. The true cure to hungry here is not laid in the hopes of these genetically engineered crops but with the hope for social change; that is the true answer to these problems.

Response:
I don’t come from a very extensive farming background but a majority of my family did and I believe this essay is lightly lacking, even though I agree with its finally assumptions about change being the answer. Here in the United States, genetically engineered food is grown and consumed daily. This is achieved through two avenues; selective interbreeding and molecular manipulation. We consume crops that were produce from both. With out such innovation in agriculture we would not have the consistent and plentiful crop that we enjoy. Drought would take a stronger effect, along with plant disease, and mineral depleted soul, causing sever lose in crop. I think that innovation like this can in fact act as the answer to many of the world hunger situations. American enjoy genetically modified foods all the day and yet some third world cultures still consider in unsafe on the premise that it is unnatural and that things have worked fine for centuries and change is not need. However with the emerging hunger epidemic balancing on the world stage, people like this cannot afford to retain their superstitious speculatory beliefs in science. I may be biased in this regard because I am a biochemistry major, but I think it is fair to say that over the past years science has made greater leaps than we can hope to achieve through social change. It stops being a question of what is “best” and converts it to address what is “possible.” Social change is possible but hoping to achieve it before countless others die is asking for belief in a fairytale. Seed that can produce higher crop yield can be delivered and planted within a month; this is tangible and realistic solution to the problems. This would lower the price these crops by increasing supply, and by virtue of the dogma of economic science we could expect to see a decrease in consumer demand. This translates into lower price for food so the poor can afford more of, it more often. Ruling out the idea that these genetically engineered plants can do harm is irresponsible but I believe the use of at least the cross breed plants is a very real and very natural method of achieving better crop yields. The jury may still be out concerning plants that off the unnatural additive of things like vitamin A, but even so I think it is better to live 20 more year before dying than dying next week. The hardest part in all of this is getting the more valuable seeds of this higher yielding crops to the farmers of these impoverished countries. They are more expensive than the native variety; the global community should be concentrated on delivering these seeds to these farmers, regardless of the cost.