Can Genetically Engineered Crops Feed a Hungry World?
Con – Biotech Will Not Feed the World Miguel Altieri, Ph.D. / SF Chronicle 30mar00 MOST PROPONENTS of agricultural biotechnology assert that genetically modified crops are essential to feed the 840 million undernourished people in the world, and to reduce the poverty of the 1.3 billion people who live on less than $1 per day. They believe that the biorevolution can be harnessed to serve the food and nutritional needs of the world’s poor. But will such potential benefits of genetically engineered food crops ever become practical enough to rid the world of hunger? Pro-biotechnology scientists say that with new research methods, biotechnology can be used to develop new crop varieties that are drought tolerant, resistant to insects and weeds, able to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and even increase the nutrient content in the edible portion of plants. Proponents say modern biotechnology offers enormous opportunities to poor farmers and low-income consumers in developing countries. The fi
