According to a report from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization the Third World is already in trouble regarding land that is suitable for crops. Henk Hobbelink reports that due to soil erosion and degradation, over one-third of the earth's land area "suffers from some form of desertification" and the Third World loses about 500 million hectares (about 240 million acres) (Hobbelink, 1991, p
Meanwhile, this paper reviews and critiques the myriad aspects linked to GM products, to the international agencies (like the WTO) that supposedly are overseeing the safety of these products, and to the need for food in areas of frequent famines like Africa. What is Genetically Engineered Food? Genetic engineering involves the "…excision of individual genes or sections of chromosomes from a particular genome" (Kollek, 1995, p
But there is the forecasted hope that GM products, if they are to truly make a difference, will be available and safe for developing nations like Africa and other Third World countries. When Simon Maxwell and Stephen Devereux wrote their book Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa, they asserted that "Food insecurity is no longer seen simply as a problem of agriculture and a failure of food production at the national level"; food insecurity they insisted is a "…failure of livelihoods to guarantee access to sufficient food at the household level" (Maxwell, et al
Still, the very fact that journalists and other authors are thinking along the lines of helping developing countries can't be all bad, in fact, raising issues for debate is a healthy approach notwithstanding the realism therein. Erik Millstone and Patrick van Zwanenberg explain that one big problem in terms of regulatory policy-making on GM crops and food that there is "the extreme difficulty in reliably forecasting the ways in which the technologies will evolve" and how the evolution of those biotech products will "impact food security" and the very structure of agricultural economies in developing countries (Millstone, et al
Food and Drug Administration to use "GM" on food product labels, along with fat, sodium, and the other ingredients. "The FDA has determined that where genetically-modified crops don't differ from non-GM crops," products don't need labels (Monsanto, 2011)
Also, the FAO states that genetic modification "is not a good in itself," but rather it is a "tool integrated into a wider research agenda" (Fresco, 2). How will Third World countries benefit or be harmed by GM food? How do the policies of the WTO support the transnational corporations' grip on the food market? An article in the Third World Quarterly takes the position that because developing countries have not engaged in deep research in the area of biotechnology, and hence these Third World countries have "had no need to introduce domestic legislation to allow the patentability of life forms" (Plahe, 2003, p
Professor Michael J. Reiss of the University of London explains that notwithstanding the "diversity of views about GM crops" and the "significant uncertainties as to the consequences of GM crops" there is no "single widely agreed ethical framework within which GM crops can be evaluated, and there may never be" (Reiss, 2001, p
9 billion for a patent from Delta & Pine Land, which means Monsanto took ownership of the so-called "terminator" system. The terminator seed patent covers plants and seeds of a number of species, and basically the way it works is that farmers plant the seeds, harvest the crops, but those farmers cannot use the seeds from the harvest to plant another crop the following year (Shand, 1998)
Speaking of Shiva, who claimed in the WSJ article that Monsanto markets its GM seeds to India on "fraudulent claims of yields of 1,500 kilograms a year [per acre] when farmers harvest 300 kg to 400 kg/year on average," her books have become a staple in the intellectual side of this environmental debate. In her book Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, Shiva traces the development of GM seeds to General Electric's application for a patent on "genetically engineered pseudomonas bacteria" in 1971 (Shiva, 1997, p
Until this situation can be specifically addressed, you will continue to see hunger affecting large segments of the population. (Aleteri, 2004, pp
This has caused many proponents to argue that you will stronger crop yields. (Cohen, 2010, pp
This will help to keep up with the rising demand, by providing farmers with more choices about the kind of plants they can grow. (Roberts, 2001, pp
Critics of modern cloning science fear its corruption and implementation in conjunction with a resurgence of a modern Eugenics movement. Beneficial Potential Applications: The potential medical benefits of cloning-based technology will likely eliminate virtually all forms of genetic disease and offer unparalleled success in treatments of an incredible array of human illnesses such as Alzheimer's, Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, Parkinson's Disease, Sickle Cell Anemia and Tay-Sachs Disease (Horgan, 1997)
Other concerns include the unethical use of cloning technology in a revival of the philosophy of Eugenics, originally inspired by the work of Charles Darwin toward the end of the 19th Century. In the period between the two world wars, the United States Supreme Court actually upheld a Virginia mandatory sterilization statute and within three years, more than half the states had enacted laws requiring the involuntary sterilization of the mentally retarded, epileptics, criminals and other so-called "undesirables" (Kaku, 1997)
Ethics of Human Cloning Genetic engineering and cloning have played important roles in agriculture for many generations. Bananas and seedless grapes, for example, are, quite literally, living genetic clones (Krock, 2001)
Modern fertility clinics, for example, now routinely employ advances in the science of in vitro fertilization to allow thousands of otherwise infertile couples to enjoy the pleasure of raising their own biological children. Prior to the successful birth of Louise Brown in 1978, opposition to in vitro fertilization (or so-called test tube babies") was as heated as is the modern debate over the ethical issues of human cloning (Ramsey, 1972)
Three years later, scientists working at Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts managed to impregnate a cow with an embryo cloned from a single frozen skin cell of a dead Southeast Asian ox called a guar. Noah, the world's first living interspecies clone was born alive, but died two days later from a common bacterial infection that is generally fatal to livestock infants (Soares, 2002)
According to them, the only justifiable issue for government prohibition is the premature attempt actual human cloning before the related technology is developed to the point that human cloning could be achieved in an ethically responsible and safe manner. In the meantime, cloning science may very well hold the key to the eventual elimination and treatment of a wide range of debilitating illnesses and the results of accidental trauma (Wheelwright, Mar/02)
According to them, the only justifiable issue for government prohibition is the premature attempt actual human cloning before the related technology is developed to the point that human cloning could be achieved in an ethically responsible and safe manner. In the meantime, cloning science may very well hold the key to the eventual elimination and treatment of a wide range of debilitating illnesses and the results of accidental trauma (Wheelwright, Mar/02)
Lee M. Silver, Princeton microbiologist claimed that in a few centuries time there would be two species of humans comprising a first group, or natural as babies born identical to today's world (Natassja)