Individual Topical Review Paper
Executive Summary
- Innovation to discuss: Genetically Modified (GM) Food
- Talking about:
o Development of GM foods
o Uses of GM Food
o Implications of GM foods
o Future Considerations
o Conclusion
Background
- GM Foods: crops produced for human consumption using latest biotechnology methods
- Modified in labs to enhance desired traits such as increased drought tolerance and increased resistance to pesticides
- Certain GM Foods have genes that makes them healthier than their organic product
Implications of GM Food
- Positives:
o Solution to global hunger
§ Possibility of growing vital foods in countries of the third world, where water is not available for large crops
§ Also likely to provide an all-year round supply of food
§ Foods can also be grown in a variety of harsh environments
o Increased Nutritional Content of foods
§ Nutritional enhancement
§ Food crops now have a larger concentration of specific types of nutrients
§ Especially important in developing countries where malnutrition is a serious issue
o Economic Benefits of GM Foods
§ Most GM foods have a longer shelf life than organic food
§ GM Foods tend to be more resistant to pests, herbicides and pesticides, and also have a shorter maturation time
o Environmental Benefits
§ Reduced usage of pesticides
§ Soil erosion would be more controlled
§ GM Foods can also help clean up the environment
- Negatives:
o Health Risks
§ Introducing a foreign gene into the crop may create a new allergen or make susceptible individuals more vulnerable to their allergies
§ Unknown health risks as well
§ Antibiotic resistance may develop for certain life-threatening viruses
o Increased tolerance by pests against pesticides and herbicides
§ Sometimes pollen of GM crops may be blown to non-target plants
§ Cross-breeding may occur, resulting in organisms that have the same herbicide resistant traits as that of the GM crops
§ Introduction of a natural biopesticide in crops could eventually produce a strain of pests that are resistant to this natural pesticide
o Environmental risks
§ GM crops can be so productive that they can overwork the soil and require vast amounts of resources, like water, to survive
§ Biodiversity could be affected
o Economic Impacts
§ GM food corporations have patented many of their products in order to generate as much profit as possible
§ Possibly lead to a monopoly by these corporations, imposing unfair terms and conditions on farmers purchasing GM crop seeds from them
§ Prices of these GM seeds would be unfairly high
Future Considerations
- GM foods would eventually become an essential part of our lives
- Food supply will never be infinite
- Will have to use our ingenuity to find new food sources
- Huge amounts of cash pumped into GM foods research
- Will seek a solution to all the controversies that GM Food has brought about currently
Conclusion
- The possibility that GM Foods would be part of our essential diet is not a fantasy
- Shortages in organic food and high prices would drive people to eventually consume more GM Foods
- Economically, GM Foods would be more appealing for farmers to cultivate than organic food
Hi Chayadi,
ReplyDeleteThe outline for your topical review paper is very comprehensive! A little suggestion for your points in negative implications, perhaps you can research on Monsanto. Look forward to reading your draft soon! :)
Hey Chayadi,
ReplyDeleteyour outline is really comprehensive! A suggestion that i can provide is perhaps you could state your views or take on GM food. For example, does GM food do more harm then good or vice versa. You could also perhaps mention about efforts put in place to prevent or reduce the cons of GM food. Great outline anyway :)
Hey Chayadi,
ReplyDeleteIt's a very detailed outline! Great job! One suggestion is that you may want to talk about how the increasing acceptance of GM food reflects a change in human's perspectives towards technology (how we now allow technology to directly intervene with our physical health as compared to the past, thus, the over-reliance on bio-technology)?
Hi Chayadi, TA here :)
ReplyDeleteYour outline looks good and you seem to have put in a lot of work. However, I think that you might have to think more about your future considerations, which Prof considers to be the most important part of the essay.
In general, you start off with the Background (yours is fine), the Current Uses (you have termed yours as Implications, which is not completely wrong, but needs to be framed differently. For example, instead of saying 'One benefit of GM food is its impact on poverty reduction', you should say 'GM food is used as a possible solution to hunger because ....), and end off with Future Considerations, where you are required to think about how GM food can be used in the future. Maybe GM food that is harder for your body to break down, resulting in meals that make you feel fuller for a longer time? Be creative :)
Email me if you need help :)