Resources Essay Research Paper RESOURCES READING ASSIGNMENT1a

Resources Essay, Research Paper

RESOURCES READING ASSIGNMENT

1a) Advantages of the “green revolution”:

-effort to transfer latest advances in agricultural technology-such as new seed hybrids, fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation from developed countries to the developing world

& so the great Asian famine never happened

-world grain harvests have doubled

Disadvantages:

-might be nearing its peak

-success depends on fresh water & arable land which are now in short supply

-some critics blame it for world poverty; they argue that the new, expensive technologies introduced to the developing world benefited a few wealthy landowners at the expense of poor farmers

-hundreds of millions of people remain undernourished even as global food prices have steadily declined

-it has contributed to the environmental degradation of the developing world through its heavy reliance on toxic pesticides and weed-killing herbicides

b) The “gene revolution”:

-genetically modified crops, which can be made resistant to drought and soil acidity & said to be suited to thrive among the conditions found throughout the developing world

-biotech crops hold the potential to redress some of the environmental damage caused by the Green Revolution by minimizing the use of pesticides and herbicides

-in developing world, biotech advocates see GM crops not only as a way to put food on the table but as a means to help boost economic growth and alleviate poverty

-it is very expensive, one estimate claims the cost of bringing a new GM crop variety to market can range from $30 -$50 million

-the crops being developed are typically not food staples in the developing world such as rice but crops suited for the U.S. and European market such as corn and cotton

c) For developing countries “catch 22″ of gene revolution technology is that the Third World countries that most need to develop GM crops can’t afford the technology, and corporations in the industrialized countries that possess the technology can’t hope to recoup their high research-and-development costs and remain commercially viable if they give away their genetic patents. If biotechnology is to be truly accessible to poor countries, then corporations, countries, development agencies, philanthropic organizations, and research institutions will have to find innovative ways to encourage public-private research while simultaneously protecting international intellectual property rights.

d) The Biotech War:

-US and EU (European Union) engaged in a transatlantic food fight

-EU insists that all genetically modified food organisms (GMOs) be labeled & some want to ban GMO imports entirely

-GMOs haven’t been proven 100% safe and Europeans want the right to restrict potentially harmful imports

-Americans retort that EU desires to shield European farmers from international competition

-biotech industry won a rare victory when European Parliament rejected a proposed law that would have held companies liable for any GMO-caused damage to the environment or public health

-US idea of establishing a “working group” to address diverging views on trade in biotech foods

-Third World countries and EU said no, fearing the group would undermine the forthcoming Biosafety Protocol and other non-trade-related organizations

-in Montreal, more than 130 countries signed the Biosafety Protocol that would regulate trade in GMOs with rules for notification of content and labeling

-in Japan where the govt simultaneously restricts and promotes GM products, regulations will require labels for all incoming shipments of biotech corn and soybeans as of April 2001

e) Worldwide, a coalition of environmentalists, consumer groups, and public health advocates have stirred up a public backlash against biotechnology, in doing so they have scored legislative victories. The EU demands that all GM food be labeled, which makes biotech vegetables unattractive to consumers. Some European supermarkets have removed all GM food from shelves, while major corporations like Gerber are refusing to use GM ingredients. The Department of Agriculture in the US reported that it expects an average 6% decline in the planting of biotech corn, soybeans, and cotton. Seven major biotech companies have committed $50 million for an advertising campaign promoting GM foods. Biotech proponents in developing countries worry that declining profits and growing restrictions on genetic research could stifle the flow of financial and scientific support from industrialized countries. If moratoriums against biotechnology become widespread, developing countries might find themselves unable to export their GM crops abroad.

2a) Genetically modified rice containing beta-carotene is significant to roughly half the world’s population which depends on rice as a staple food. Beta-carotene is a substance necessary to humans for the production of vitamin A. As many as 250 million kids suffer worldwide from vitamin A deficiency, which causes blindness, impairs the immune system, reducing their resistance to diarrhea, and measles.

b) Bio-McCarthyism is vandalism against biotech research facilities and corporate headquarters, protesting, slander and

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