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Genetically modified organisms will benefit the world's poorest people

Results so far:

Agree
49% 37 votes Total: 76 votes
Disagree
51% 39 votes

Assuming that "the world's poorest people" have access to land on which to plant (which most do not!), fresh water to properly arrogate their crops (which fewer and fewer developing countries have), and facilities to process their crops, and putting aside the question of whether GMOs are safe for human consumption, the answer is still a resounding NO.

Firstly, when an organism's genome is modified even slightly the company responsible for that alteration obtains a patent (or other forms of licensing and property protection). Whether the newly-developed wheat or corn or soy is indeed superior to the natural version of these crops is not under consideration at the moment. What's important is that now the farmer cannot use the millennia-old process of farming: plant the crops, collect and process the crops, put aside some seeds to be replanted next season. In fact, many farmers in Mexico and other poor countries were recently sued by Monsanto and other companies because it was discovered that they had replanted seeds from previous harvests. The farmer now has to purchase seeds specifically for planting, even if he has plenty left over from previous harvest. So, instead of allowing the farmer to remain self-sufficient, using transgenic crops will make him completely dependent on the manufacturer of those crops. And what some of those manufacturers are doing now is changing the genome of certain cash crops to make the seeds sterile. That way even if the farmer wanted to break his agreement with the manufacturer of these plants by replanting, he can't.

Secondly, when a transgenic crop is introduced to a particular environment it eventually eradicates most other varieties of the same plant via cross-pollination. Biodiversity is essential not only to the balance of the various ecosystems but quite often to our own survival. The Irish Potato Famine of the mid-1800s demonstrates just how important biodiversity is to human welfare. Not only was the poor population of Ireland over relying on the potato as the main staple, but most of the potatoes were of a single variety, so when the blight came to Ireland there was not enough genetic diversity to stop it form devastating so much of the crop. Had this happened in South America where there is a large diversity of potatoes, a blight-resistant variety could have been discovered and planted in large enough quantities to offset the blighted potatoes. What happened to the potatoes in Ireland is mirrored in the US and Mexico with


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Genetically modified organisms will benefit the world's poorest people

Disagree
  • 1 of 5

    by Mariya G

    Assuming that "the world's poorest people" have access to land on which to plant (which most do not!), fresh water to properly

    read more

  • 2 of 5

    by Maria Weston

    The Biotech companies would like you to believe that this is true but it couldn't be further from the truth.

    The genetically

    read more

Agree
  • 1 of 2

    by R Anderson

    Many people harbor negative feelings regarding genetically modified (GM) foods. Much of this can be credited to disinformation

    read more

  • 2 of 2

    by Morgan Carlson

    Genetically modified organisms will benefit not only the world's poorest people, but everyone else as well. Already there

    read more

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