Why Use Genetic Engineering?
The United Nations estimates that over the course of the next three decades the global population will increase by 2 500 million, reaching a total of 8 500 million people.(1) The number of chronically undernourished is expected to increase from 800 million to well over 1000 million, most of which are women and children.(2) Urbanization will also increase demands for high quality food like meat, which requires a high input of vegetation as feed. As our need for agricultural output is increasing, the environment is becoming less suitable for growth. Processes such as desertification, erosion and waterlogging result in land degradation. In fact, the amount of food produced globally has decreased since 1984 because billions of tonnes of topsoil are being lost each year.(3) Furthermore, as the population increases it is logical to assume that the area of land available for agriculture will diminish. Consequently, practices including deforestation result as a means of making land available f
