Draft #1

Advantages to Genetically Modified Foods

Since the world population continues to grow over a staggering 6 billion people and is predicted to double to a whopping 12 billion in the next 50 years, coming up with an adequate food supply to feed all of these people is a MUST! So even though genetically modified foods are considered Frankenstein, they can also be considered for the number of benefits they house as well. One beneficial factor that GMFs house is the key to stop malnutrition; Many people in third world countries relie on a single crop such as rice for the main part of their diet.  So it’s pretty hard for them to get all of the necessary nutrients for them to survive and refrain from malnutrition.

Another factor that GMFs have that will support this growing population is the different tolerances it holds against various environmental factors such drought, salinity, and pests.  Because as the world’s population increases more and more land will be used towards housing individuals instead of farming, so the crops that can’t withstand the torture associated with the areas that are most likely to not to develop into housing areas are the places that our crops will be grown.  For example, GMFs are engineered to withstand extremely salty soil, killer weeds and pests, and extremely long drought periods.

One last factor that I found to be incredibly striking was the fact that GMFs are being used for medicines and vaccines in third world countries!  Since most of the vaccines/medicines that are made (to date) require special storage and temperature conditions that many third world countries lack, geneticists have engineered edible vaccines that are in tomatoes in potatoes.  It sounds a little weird, but once I put some actual thought into it; tomatoes and potatoes are incredibly easy to ship, store, and give out.  This is an ideal invention because if majority of the people in third world countries suffer from malnutrition, then it would be a little hard to find a vein or perfect area to administer injectable vaccines.