‘THERE is a lot that happens around the world we cannot control,” American politician Jan Schakowsky once said. “We cannot stop earthquakes, we cannot prevent droughts, and we cannot prevent all conflict, but when we know where the hungry, the homeless and the sick exist, then we can help.”
Hunger is the physical sensation of desiring food. When politicians, relief workers and social scientists talk about people suffering from hunger, they usually refer to those who are unable to eat sufficient food to meet their basic nutritional needs for sustained periods of time.
But with the continuous number of Filipinos added annually to the current population, it is more likely that hunger will be rule rather than exception. In 1980 the Philippines was home to 48 million Filipinos. In 2000 the number swelled to 78 million. By 2012, the population reached 93 million.
This year 206 Filipinos are added to the current population every hour. That’s 4,965 people each day. By the end of 2018, the Philippines will be home to 107.19 million people, according to the Commission on Population.
In addition, there are the issues of climate change: rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns. “Climate change is a major challenge for agriculture and food security,” said Dr. Randy A. Hautea, global coordinator and Southeast Asia Center director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA).
Likely solution
So, is there a likely solution in sight for hunger? “I now say that the world has the technology—either available or well advance in the research pipeline—to feed on a sustainable basis a population of 10 billion people,” Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug pointed out. “The more pertinent question today is whether farmers and ranchers will be permitted to use this new technology?”
Borlaug, touted to be the “Man Who Saved A Billion Lives,” was referring to biotechnology. “While the affluent nations can certainly afford to adopt ultra-low risk positions, and pay more for food produced by the so-called organic methods, the 1 billion chronically undernourished people of the low income, food-deficit nations cannot,” the American agronomist deplored.
Biotechnology, for the information of the uninformed, encompasses an array of tools and applications that allow scientists to manipulate the genetic materials of plants, microbes and animals. These methods provide ways to modify the characteristics that are passed from one generation to the next.
Ismail Serageldin, during his time as vice president of World Bank, sees biotechnology playing a crucial part of agriculture in the 21st century. “All possible tools that can help promote sustainable agriculture for food security must be marshaled,” he said, “and biotechnology, safely developed, could be a tremendous help.”
There is so much potentials about biotechnology that it needs to be harnessed. “As citizen of this country, I think it is our duty to help spread the truth about things that have the potential to make cheap and safe food available to our people and to inform them of things that endanger their health and welfare,” said former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. during the opening of the 12th National Biotech Week at the Bureau of Soils and Water Management some years back.
“I think it is time that we make full use of the advances of biotechnology—where applicable—and use it to help free our people from hunger—and from ignorance—so that they in turn may not only be receivers, but sharers of the wealth of the nation with those in dire need of it,” the former senator from Mindanao pointed out.
Since time immemorial
Biotechnology has been with us since time immemorial. The making of beer, soy sauce, nata de coco and even composting all undergo biotechnological process. Other products of biotechnology include antibiotics (penicillin), insulin (used in treating diabetes), and those vaccines used for measles, hepatitis B and rabies.
Those were products of traditional biotechnology. The era of modern biotechnology brought the technology into a higher level.
“All plants, animals and living organisms have cells, the basic unit of life,” explained a fact sheet published by the Biotechnology Information Center of the Laguna-based Southeast Asia Regional Center for Agriculture. “Within cells are hereditary materials generally composed of deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA).”
“There hereditary materials [that determine a trait] are called genes. Through biotechnology, the gene fragments can be inserted from one organism to another, within related and unrelated species, to improve specific traits,” it added.
There are five tools used in biotechnology. There’s gene cloning, where scientists identify and isolate specific DNA fragments, which are introduced into a self-replicating genetic element so that the fragment can be reproduced and expressed in the target organism.
Tissue culture is a technique that involves culturing plant parts and animal cells under laboratory conditions. Microbial culture, on the other hand, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms. DNA-marker technology involves the identification of DNA fragments associated with a certain desired trait and its utilization.
Genetic engineering, the most controversial among the tools, is the manipulation, introduction and expression of specific genes or DNA in the target organisms. This is the method used in developing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
“GM technology can address problems that cannot be solved through conventional crop improvement methods,” the fact sheet informed. “It enables plant breeders to bring together in one plant useful genes from a wide range of sources, not just from within the crop species or closely related plants.
“This powerful tool allows plant breeders to attain a desired trait combination faster and address urgent concerns like the development of crops that are resistant to biotic [diseases and pests] or abiotic stresses [drought and waterlogging], and with increased yield and improved food and nutrient quality,” the fact sheet added.
Among the products that have been genetically modified include soybean, squash, corn, potato, tomato, canola and cotton. In the Philippines the only biotech crop commercially available is corn. Also soon to be introduced in the country are the biotech eggplant and the vitamin A-rich golden rice.
Some concerns
GM crops have been a source of contention in various parts of the world, as some believe these crops pose potential risks to human health and the environment. The Greenpeace, an anti-GM crop organization, continues to take a preventive stance. It cautioned that consumers can never be absolutely sure of the safety of biotech crops since this is only determined by decades of data and study.
One of the public’s biggest concerns related to GM foods is that an allergen (a protein that causes an allergic reaction) could be accidentally introduced into a food products. “Allergenicity screening is a very important part of safety testing before a crop can enter into the food market,” ISAAA explained. “A variety of tests and questions must be considered to determine whether the food poses any increased risk of allergenicity.”
Antibiotic resistance is another concern. “The likelihood of antibiotic resistance genes moving from GM crops to any other organisms is extremely remote,” ISAAA assured. “Even in the unlikely event that an antibiotic resistance gene is transferred to another organism, the impact of this transfer would be negligible, as the markers used in GM crops have limited clinical or veterinary use.”
Other potential risks include: the likelihood of transgenes escaping from cultivated crops into wild relatives; the potential for pests to evolve resistance to the toxins produced by GM crops; and the risk of these toxins affecting nontarget organisms.
Safe to eat?
But the question is: are biotech crops safe to eat?
“Foods produced using genetic modification is as safe as foods produced using conventional breeding techniques,” assured the US Food and Drug Administration. “Genetically modified foods are as safe as other foods available on the market.”
The Geneva-based World Health Organization declared that different GM foods go through the global food safety process called Codex Alimentarius Risk Analysis of Foods Derived from Modern Biotechnology under which these foods are not found to be risky to human health.
“GM foods currently available on the international market have passed risk assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health,” said the United Nations health agency in a statement.
“No effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved. Continuous use of risk assessments based on the Codex principles and, where appropriate, including post market monitoring, should form the basis for evaluating the safety of GM foods,” it added.
A 2008 review published by the Royal Society of Medicine noted that transgenic foods have been eaten by millions of people worldwide for over 15 years, with no reports of ill effects. Likewise, a 2004 report from the US National Academies of Sciences stated: “To date, no adverse health effects attributed to genetic engineering have been documented in the human population.”
To eat or not to eat: that is the question. One sage puts this dilemma it this perspective: “A man who has enough food has several problems. A man without food has only one problem.” Or as Horace puts it: “Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.”
Image credits: www.pixabay.com, Henrylito D. Tacio