Organic food should not replace genetically engineered food.
We are living in a world where everyday 25,000 people die of starvation. [1] The biggest problem is in the poorest countries in the world, where most people strive to survive on less then a dollar a day. Over the past couple of years, the media have been promoting eating organic food. Everywhere we go, we hear organic food is better for us and the environment. From the same sources we hear that genetically modified food (GMO) is dangerous for us. In my opinion this isn't the case. Lets face the facts.
Organic food production needs a lot more space to give a certain amount of food. Expanding these areas is causing habitat destruction for animals that live in that certain area. This one fact is causing a huge economic impact. The consumers have to pay more for the same amount of food. If organic producers decided not to expand, then they would put millions of peoples lives at risk because, apparently its better for the environment.
There is a widely believed notion that there are no pesticides in organic food cultivation. There is no such thing as pesticide free food production in these times. The truth is, that organic farmers use quite a range of pesticides. Due to food producers not allowing themselves to use synthetic pesticides, they have to use natural weed/insect/fungi killers which are quite toxic.
Agriculturalists also have to use natural fertilizers, such as manure. First impression is, it is better for the crops, but this information is misleading. This type of fertilizing may cause health hazards. Manure comes from cattle, and cow poo is the source of pathogenic bacteria such as E. Coli and Salmonella. Cows are also one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse emissions. Their digestive system produces methane which is 23% more harmful than CO2. This is 18% more greenhouse gas emissions, than transport and people activities combined.
Expanding areas of organic crops mean that farmers need to use more cows, therefore they need more poo, ergo more gases are produced and so this starts a cycle again and again.
In 1973, India found itself on the edge of massive famine. There wasn't enough food for the rapidly growing population. In those times, most of the food production was similar to organic. Professor Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan [2] introduced Norman Borlaug's method of food production and thanks to this, he steered India away from starvation. [3] As a result of what prof. Swaminathan did, in 1975 India was able to sustain all of its food need and could stop importing food from overseas.
From those times, the food production evolved even further and genetically engineered food came into the picture. Thanks to this introduction of genetically modified foods we can produce more food from the same area.
Today's chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides are safer for the environment. They are a lot more efficient, therefore we use them less to gain the same effect. Apart from that, using chemical pesticides are subject to very rigid control and monitoring by government authorities.
Many supporters to organic food believe, that using modern pesticides can cause cancer. This assumption falls apart when we read the American Cancer Society report, which clearly states:
"[...] There is no scientific evidence that pesticides and herbicides residues are a cause of cancer [...]" [4]
In my opinion Genetically Engineered food should not be replaced with organic food. If this would happen it will be a global catastrophe.
But lets leave the last word to Norman Borlaug who said that "[... ] organic food could only sustain 4 billion people." There are nearly 7 billion people in the world. Which 3 billion people, do you think, should starve to death?
References
[1] According to the report the United Nations released in 2003.
[2] An Indian agriculture scientist, World Food Prize Winner.
[3] Norman Borlaug (1914 - 2009), Nobel Peace Prize Winner in 1997,
was father of The Green Revolution.
[4] According to the American Cancer Society.
Wednesday, 1st December 2010. Melbourne, Australia