Genetically Modified Crops

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Genetically Modified Crops

• Juan D. Taboada Paulo Serna Tomas Bulka
  Nazli Zooleh

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Agenda

• Introduction (Technical Description).
• Case Study Sustainable Agriculture in Zambia.
• Ethical Issues.
• Ethical Analysis.
• Conclusions.

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FAQ, GM Crops

• What is Sustainable Agriculture?
• What are Genetically Modified Organisms?
• What is the purpose for Genetic Modification?
• What crops are produced through Genetic
  Modification?
• What are the benefits of Genetic Modification?
• What are the disadvantages of Genetic
  Modification?

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What is Sustainable Agriculture?

• The term sustainable agriculture means an
  integrated
• system of plant and animal production practices
  having a
• site-specific application.
• Sustainable agriculture integrates three main
  goals
• environmental health, economic profitability, and
  social
• and economic equity.

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What are Genetically Modified Organisms?

• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are
  organisms whose genetic material has been
  artificially changed to enable them to perform
  functions that they would not normally do
  naturally. A genetically modified (GM) tomato,
  for example, is one whose genetic makeup has been
  altered through the insertion of a gene of a fish
  that lives in very cold water to enable it (the
  GM tomato) to survive cooler temperatures.
• How a plant is genetically modified

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What is the purpose for Genetic Modification?

• Genetically Modified Crops are made for many
  different purposes, the main one being to create
  a food able to survive being sprayed with harmful
  chemicals like pesticides and herbicides.Other
  purposes are to make food stay fresher for
  longer, to kill pests, to produce more of the
  crop and to experiment with taste and quality.

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What crops are produced through Genetic
Modification?

• The first genetically modified crops to be sold
  in the USA were tomatoes, which were modified so
  they wouldn't go soft so quickly, then Soya beans
  and oilseed rape, which gives margarine and oils.
  They were modified to survive certain herbicides
  and weed-killers, then maize and cotton were
  modified to carry a poison that kills pests and
  protects crops against damage. Potatoes were also
  some of the earliest vegetables to be modified.

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Technical Data (1)
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Technical Data (2)
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What are the benefits of Genetic Modification? (1)

• The agricultural process is kinder to the
  environment, by using less pesticides,
  fertilizers and water.
• Gene technology is one of the best solutions to
  the problem of world hunger. It can increase
  production and lower the cost of food.
• Gene modification can boost immunity and develop
  inbuilt vaccines for livestock and poultry.
• Gene technology can remove lactose, so that
  lactose-intolerant people can eat dairy products.

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What are the benefits of Genetic Modification? (2)

• Crops could be grown in areas suffering from
  drought and salt.
• GM crops are faster and cheaper.
• Many vegetarians may find they are now able to
  consume products which have synthetic, rather
  than animal-based, origins.
• G M Foods are sometimes thought as being more
  nutritious, tasting better and they keep longer.
• Many people rely on genetically modified foods
  for medicines, for example insulin for diabetics.
  
• Proven by research, GM Foods are safe.

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What are the disadvantages of Genetic
Modification? (1)

• Most food manufacturers are unable or unwilling
  to provide information on whether or not their
  products contain GM ingredients. This means you
  rarely know what you are eating.
• GM crops can contaminate other crops simply by
  pollen being blown by wind from one field to
  another.
• World starvation has more to do with wealth
  distribution rather than the inadequate
  production of foods.
• Sometimes GM crops have allergenic effects.
• Loss of nutritional value.
• Reduction of the efficiency of antibiotics.
• New viruses could evolve from the mass production
  of GM crops.
• The more that gene technology is used, the worse
  the environment will become.

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What are the disadvantages of Genetic
Modification? (2)

• Pests may develop resistance to GM crops that
  have been designed to kill them.
• Humans do not have the right to genetically alter
  nature for their own convenience and profit.
• GM crops produce religious complications.
• Vegetarians and Vegans may find it offensive to
  put animal genes into plants.
• GM crops may cause harm to the wealth and welfare
  of animals.
• Some countries will not be able to afford GM
  foods.
• GM crops may produce ecological side effects.
• Too much money spent on Gene Technology could
  have been spent on other things.
• No assurances of public liability for Farmers of
  GM crops.

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Case Study

• Zambia
• Zambia faces the challenge of balancing
• Short term food problems (droughts followed by
  floods)
• Long term agricultural problems (2 million
  Zambians at risk of famine)
• Should the Zambian government allow the
  introduction of GM crops into the agricultural
  sector as an attempt to solve these problems?

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Case Study

• Zambia
• Location S. Africa
• Population 10.3 Million
• Size Slightly larger than Texas
• Climate Tropical rainy season (Oct.- Apr.)
• Natural Hazards Periodic drought, tropical
• storms (Nov.-Apr.)
• Economic Growth Below the 5 to 7
• necessary to reduce
• poverty significantly
• Population below poverty line 86 (1993)
• Labor force 85 - Agriculture
• 6 - Industry
• 9 - Services
• Unemployment rate 50 (2000 est.)

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Case Study

• Simply stated, the critical point of debate must
  be that the very serious problem of food
  consumption (the presence of hunger) must not be
  dealt with in ways that create even more serious
  problems of food production (the destruction of
  agricultural infrastructure).

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Case Study

• Proponents of genetically GM crops are presenting
  these crops as part of the key solutions to
  boosting and stabilizing rural incomes. They are
  also being offered as part of the answer to the
  national problem of food insecurity.
• Opponents say that GM crops are likely to
  exacerbate the rural household food insecurity
  and further erode the little cash income which
  might be there.

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Case Study

• Food Security is access to all people at all time
  to enough food for an active and healthy life.
  Households will be food secure when the following
  conditions are met
• First, enough food must be available in both
  quantity for adequate energy intake and diversity
  of food types (quality) for adequate intake of
  nutrients. These foods must also be culturally
  acceptable.
• Second, households must have access to these food
  supplies. Access is determined by households
  endowments (land, labor, capital and other
  resources) and how these are transformed into
  food entitlements which include the various means
  for procuring food.
• Third, food supplies must be sustainable through
  seasons and over years.
• Fourth, household food security (HFS) must be
  equitably distributed to ensure that the poor and
  vulnerable have secure access to the food they
  need.
• Fifth, HFS is intricately tied to livelihood
  security, and is more likely to be achieved when
  livelihoods are sustainable.

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Case Study

• The push for the adoption of genetically modified
  (GM) crops in Zambia is posing a serious
  challenge to the present and future agricultural
  infrastructure of Zambia, with consequent danger
  to the viability of food production to meet the
  needs of its ten million population. GM crops
  might not improve sustainable agriculture.

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Case Study

• Sustainable agriculture is a food system that
• (a) provides a reasonable rate of return to
  farmers, to sustain farm families, agricultural
  infrastructure, and rural communities
• (b) assures a reasonable rate of return to
  public and private providers of farm inputs
  (seeds, fertilizers, etc.), information,
  services, and technologies
• (c) preserves and generates soil, water, and
  biological resources upon which farming depends,
  and avoids adverse impacts on the natural
  environment
• (d) increases productivity and per-hectare
  yields at least in step with the growth in
  demand and
• (e) adheres to social norms and expectations in
  terms of fairness, equity, compliance with
  regulations, food safety, and ethical treatment
  of workers, animals, and other creatures sharing
  agricultural landscapes

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Case Study

• Questions to be addressed.
• Does GMO complement conventional and organic
  approaches?
• Would GM crops contribute to food security in
  Zambia?
• Does Genetic Modification increase productivity
  on existing fields?
• Will the use of GM crops reduce the cost of
  inputs (such as insecticides and herbicides)?
• Are there harmful effects from GM crops on
  humans, on animals or on the environment?
• Have GM crops been adequately tested?

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Professional IssuesAltered Crops

• Does GM food even provide better yields and other
  benefits? Issue currently in dispute.
• Cost and effectiveness of fertilizers and
  pesticides. May solve one problem, but introduce
  others.
• Choosing between GM and natural seeds Payment
  of royalties for GM seeds. Balance between the
  right of farmers vs. companies rights
• Dependency on other Countries

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Legal IssuesAltered Crops

• Patenting of GM crops
• Farmers must pay to plant, replant or propagate
  seeds
• Benefits of GM crops overemphasized?
• But more importantly, may cause harm to humans
  and animals! Leads to lawsuits.
• Liability from use of fertilizers and pesticides.
• Environmental Regulations for pesticides and
  herbicides

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Ethical IssuesAltered Crops

• Sustainability of agriculture/damage to the
  genetic code of critical species
• Lowering the quality of genetic variation in
  crops? This leads to increased chance of crop
  failure
• Do we want for profit companies protecting the
  genetic code of the very important crops we need
  for our survival?

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Ethical IssuesAltered Crops

• With genetic engineering, will the search for new
  wild crops stop?
• Creating super crops using traits not normally
  seen in plants (using deep ocean fish genes in
  tomatoes to make them cold resistant)
• Such actions may have unknown consequences on
  other forms of life.

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StakeholdersAltered Crops

• All humans we must eat!
• Agricultural Companies (Monsanto, Dow
  AgroSciences etc.)
• Farmers
• Zambian Government
• Other animals and plants and organisms
• (except Kant, Aquinas, and Aristotle who think
  use of animals as a means ok)

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Possible Actions

• Do not use Altered Crops
• Sticking to farmers and sustainable agriculture,
  and keep on consuming natural crops
• Use Altered Crops
• Forget about using natural crops produced by
  farmers and consume nothing but GM crops
• Use Altered Crops along with unaltered ones
• Make GM crops the main part of our daily diet,
  but at the same time allowing limitations in
  using GM crops by controlling how much herbicide
  is used

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Ethical Analysis-Rights Perspective

• Introduction of GM crops into Zambia will cause
  harm for farmers, by contaminating the organic
  crops and preventing the organic farmer from
  marketing his/her produce as organic.
• Farmers have the right to get more quantity and
  healthier products from their crops.
• Rights of the hungry to have access to food
• ? Undecided

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Fairness/Justice

• GM crops, favoring industrialized agricultures,
  will favor large farms and mechanization at the
  expense of smaller family farms.
• This will, therefore, increase unemployment and
  poverty.
• Ethical only if Zambia wants to increase
  unemployment among its population ? not ethical!

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Utilitarian Perspective

• Genetically modifying natural crops should
  benefit everyone, and not only those with the
  resources to capture the patents.
• Not Ethical, Because its not benefiting the
  majority.

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Common Good Perspective

• Genetically Modified crops do not satisfy/benefit
  the common good of the community, but only the
  ones who have control over releasing the GM
  crops.
• Not Ethical!

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Virtues Perspective

• Genetically Modifying crops do not develop values
  and virtues for the community as a whole.
• Farmers will have to plant their own GM seed
  every year, and it will become an offence to
  replant your own GM seed.
• Profit-seeking companies will result in the
  farmers losing their life-long right to keep and
  trade their seeds with neighbors.
• Not Ethical!

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Kantian Perspective

• Companies Using Farmers as a means by spreading
  propaganda about GM crops
• Obviously not Ethical!

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Conclusion

• The argument developed shows that the
  introduction of GM crops into Zambia is being
  pushed by a small minority of the population,
  without adequate account being taken of the
  dangerous implications for an infrastructure of
  sustainable agriculture.
• Therefore, considering the fact that food
  security in Zambia for all Zambians needs
  sustainable agriculture, and since GMOs will have
  a negative impact on it, it should be stopped.

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QA