Blog Post 4

World hunger is one of the forefront issues we face as a civilization today. The age-old question “how can we put an end to world hunger once and for all?” has been asked forever it seems, and many people have thought of many different ideas and strategies that might be successful. With the development of technology as the years have progressed, we as humans have only had more problems solved and more potential solutions to problems we face like this. Some have thought of science as a tool we could use that could potentially put an end to world hunger through the use of things like GMO’s and GMO crops. A GMO is an acronym for a Genetically Modified Organism. This is defined as an organism whose genome has been engineered in the laboratory in order to favor the expression of desired physiological traits or the generation of desired biological products. People believe that this could be a solution to world hunger by helping economically and resourcefully. According to Iain Gordon, “There might be some economic boosts for early adopters, but those benefits are typically fleeting. It has been argued that we need GM foods because they will reduce production costs by reducing the need for additional chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers). Theoretically, these savings could be passed on to the consumer. Moreover, it has been claimed that GM technology will promote food security while also being healthier and more stable.” (Gordon, 2017). He writes about how these will be beneficial and part of the solution because they cut down on production costs of a typical farmer because they don’t need the typical pesticides or fertilizers that the farmers have to provide out of pocket. If these crops are cheaper to use than regular ones, more people will have access to them and in turn have access to a food source. They also have the potential to produce more food that is more nutritious as well as not having to worry about things in nature that farmers normally have to worry about like insects or weeds. This would make more food more available to more people world wide and increase food security to the global population. Once food security is increased then the problem of world hunger becomes less and less of an issue as more people will have more food as well as know when and where they are going to get their next meal from.

Gordon, I. (2017). A world without hunger: Organic or GM crops? Sustainability, 9(4), 580.