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HEALTH

GeneticallyModified New technology Crops: for agricultural development

By Mohammed Akram Qasmi

No G M crops that increase yield have been developed so far. The studies of the US agricultural department show that the yield of GM corn and soybean are less than that of conventional varieties.

F

ood is one of the most important necessities for humans; we eat to live and at least most people are blessed with a meal a day, while some others can afford three or more. The world population has topped 6 billion people and it is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come.

It is a worldwide idea to produce the food in a huge quantity because the population is growing day by day and the source of grain such as earth remains in its place with no increase. In this situation, it is most likely feared that if the harvest is not taken in large quantity

27 EASTERN CRESCENT | APRIL 2014

then the people will die with hunger.

For solving this problem, most of the countries in this advanced world have a new idea of Genetically-modified Crops and claimed that this technology has great potential to improve the yields. They are trying to promote the use of this new technology for agricultural development. They are somewhat successful picking up yields twice due to anti-pesticide applications which cause to grow more and better foods to meet the demand of our fast growing world population.

It has a lot of benefits such as developments of new kinds of crops that can be grown at extreme climates, for example, dry or freezing environments (like deserts). For

example, scientist developed a type of tomato that grows in salty soil and the grain of rice is taken in summer days while its real season is rainy, reduction of world starvation due to increased production, enhancement of the taste of food, enhancement of the quality of food, enhancement of the size of food, decrease of maturation time of the

Genetically modified crops and organisms (GM and GMOs), according to their promoters, offer greater efficiency in production

HEALTH

plants, so that they can be harvested sooner and more often during the year, less labor requirements, higher crop yields and others.

In one hand it is being claimed that more food is being produced than ever before but on the other hand it is the fact that over a billion people suffer from hunger worldwide. This is the estimate of World Health Organization and according to the article which is published in Hindustan Times newspaper, the author writes that no G M crops that increase yield have been developed so far. The studies of the US agricultural department show that the yields of GM corn and soybean are less than that of conventional varieties.

It is not so that the people are suffering from hunger due to lack of grain. It is a survey that the world produced foods are enough to feed 14 billion people twice the existing population but the real problem lies in combating food wastage and in the US alone $165-billion worth food is wasted.

In India, more than 20 crore people have nothing to eat and they go to their beds with empty stomachs. The starvation is not the result of any deficit in food production. India has got a surplus of 82.3 million tones of food in last year but the real problem lies in access and distribution.

According to a survey many children in the US and Europe even in India have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods...

The claim that the GM crops provide more food is based on false premises because there are many surveys which show that there is no increase in crop yields because of the usage of the pesticide chemicals but most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories: environmental hazards, human health risks, and

economic concerns.

It is true that the pesticide chemicals kill the crop-damaging pests but it is not possible to design the chemical that would only kill crop-damaging pests and remain harmless to all other insects which are helpful for the harvest so in this case, unintended harm goes to other organisms. According to a survey many children in the US and Europe even in India have developed lifethreatening allergies to peanuts and other foods and there is a growing concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health as we can compare a man of today to a man of yesterday; earlier men had been more healthy than in the recent age and it is also harmful to the consumers invisibly.

Bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process and the companies which manufacture these new plant varieties will raise the price of seeds so high that small farmers and will not be able to purchase the seeds.

It is time to focus on sowing the seeds of sustainable farming so that we can protect human health from risks and environmental hazards. There are some areas where are cultivated without the use of any pesticides and chemicals, such as in Andhra Pradesh, farmers do not use chemical fertilizers in nearly 3.5 million acres even today and they get the grain with increased yield which is enough to beat starvation.

It also provides safe and healthy foods to the consumers.

28 EASTERN CRESCENT | APRIL 2014