Polytechnic University of the State of Morelos

English

Teacher: Emilio Carbajal

Team Members: Anhell Gabriela Arroyo Navarrete

Rosa Isel Camarillo Hernndez

Mara Fernanda Araujo Garca

Grade: 4 Group: D

Engineering in Biotechnology.

Topic: Transgenic food in agriculture

Introduction:

Today the growth of the world population and hunger in some countries have encouraged the
development of ideas to solve the problem of the future food of humanity. At present, population
growth annually adds about 60 million mouths to feed, while soil degradation, increased insect
resistance to pests, pollution and climate change have meant that the annual growth rate of the
crops have stagnated and even descended. Many feel that biotechnology is the only way to maintain
food production and reverse this trend.

Because of this, genetically modified foods are a viable option for food, since being genetically
modified with the help of genetic engineering and molecular and cellular biology, they improve
agricultural production, reduce the use of pesticides and help with weed biocontrol.

These organisms being genetically modified less perishable to the external agents, like the weather,
plagues, droughts, etc.

Objective:

Using transgenic food in agriculture to deal with hunger

To provide an international and national overview of GMOs
To provide elements on the complexity of maize, the main food of the Mexican population.
To illustrate the complexity mentioned in the adoption and regulation of this new technology

Hypothesis

The regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is complex and makes this new technology
useful for moving towards a more equitable and sustainable society that is hampered by the
interests confronted in this respect, as well as by a weak and contradictory position of the State. It
is complicated if we integrate the environmental problem, since the analysis focuses on Mexico, a
diverse country with a significant backwardness and dependence on science and technology.

Justification:

GMOs that are currently used have commercial advantages (greater production, lower costs) there
is a great potential in the use of transgenic to improve the quality of food, as well as nutritional
enrichment avoiding the death of hundreds of children to be a more affordable product.

Development:

As you are all aware the vast majority of the researches on genetically modified crops suggests that
they are safe to eat and that they have the potential to feed millions of people worldwide who
currently go hungry.

Those interested in solving world hunger argue that GM foods arent an ethical way to address
hunger since it works against the values and livelihoods of the people most affected. Moreover,
some argue that the current food yield is enough to meet human demands.
GMO technology

The GMO technology is often used for several factors that help the marketing of this, such as
delaying shelf life of food, lower cost of production, weather resistance, as the most important.
(National Research Council. 2000)

Resistance to pests

Farmers benefit in the development of transgenic plants, being resistant in specific pests avoiding
the use of pesticides, harmful to the fertile soil. For example, in Hawaii, papayas resistant to the
viral papaya ring spot have been sold and planted since 1996 (National Research Council. 2000)

Performance improvement

One of the technologies that led to the "Green Revolution" was the creation of high-yielding
semidwarf wheat varieties. The genes responsible for that height reduction were the Japanese
NORIN 10 genes introduced in the western trigens during the 1950s (gibberellin insensitive genes
for dwarfism). These genes had two advantages: they produced a shorter and stronger plant, which
responded well to the application of more fertilizer without collapsing; and directly increased
performance by reducing cell elongation.

Nowadays, this technique of dwarfing can be used to increase the productivity of any agricultural
plant whose economic performance is in the reproductive parts, instead of in the vegetative ones.

Tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress

The creation of crops with intrinsic resistance to biotic and abiotic stress helps to stabilize annual
production. For example, the rice yellow spot virus (RYMV) devastates African rice fields by directly
destroying most of the crop, with a secondary effect on the surviving plants, which become more
vulnerable to fungal infections. Researchers have resorted to a new technique, which mimics
"genetic immunization," by creating transgenic rice plants that are resistant to RYMV (Pinto et al
1999).

Benefits in nutrition

GMOs are especially important for developing countries where nutrition is of vital importance.
Provide a potential to increase the nutritional value of plants.
A plant that offers little or no vitamin A can be combined with the genes of another plant that has a
high vitamin A content.
GMOs can introduce new sources of essential nutrients that can combat health problems caused
by nutritional deficiencies.

Conclusion

Transgenic foods are more affordable to the general public, and supply the demand of foods
worldwide.
Bibliography

National Research Council. 2000. Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture. Washington, DC: The
National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/9889.