.

Hanoi University of Science and

Technology
School of Foreign Languages

MARKING SHEET FOR LONGER ESSAYS

Student’s name: Ngô Thị Thanh Thúy Class: TA1.03

Essay’s title: GM FOODS AND THE MISSION OF FEEDING THE WORLD

Max. MARKING CRITERIA

Score Poo
(/100) (40-
(55-
(70-
100)
10 Introduction:
• Well-developed introduction engages the reader and creates interest;
• Introduction clearly states the objectives of the paper.
40 Body:
• relevant and appropriate content;
• Fluent and logical progression of ideas with a clear and well-organized
structure;
• use of existing literatures to support the objectives of the paper; presenting
information collected from a variety of quality electronic and print sources,
including appropriate licensed databases;
• showing the author’s critical perspective in reading and reporting the
works of others, rather than simply a compilation of facts and summaries of
previous studies.
5 Conclusion:
• Effectively wraps up and goes beyond summarizing main ideas;
• Conclusion is logical, discusses the implications of the paper, and
demonstrates independent thought.
5 Format:
• Inclusion of all necessary sections of a longer essay: Cover page, content
page (if there are headings and numbers in the paper), title, introduction,
body, conclusion, and references
• Presentation of essay sections.
• Use of font, size, line spacing, etc. as required (Times New Roman, font
size 12/Arial size 10; double spacing)
• Length of the paper (1,200-1,500 words)
30 Use of English language:
• Paragraphing
• Coherence and cohesion
• Grammatical range and accuracy
• Lexical variety
• Range of sentence structures (simple, compound, complex)
• Spelling and punctuation
10 Citation and referencing (using APA referencing system):
• Observation of citation rules: correctness and consistency (80%)
• Producing a correct reference list (20%)
100
Assessor: (Signature and Full name) Date:

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 Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1. Positive sides 1

1.1. GMOs: better crops protection 1

1.2. GMOs: higher yielding crops 2

1.3. Development in nutrient supplies and environmental benefits 2

2. Negative sides 3

2.1 . Food safety concerns 3

2.2. Long term ecological impacts of GM crops 3

2.3. Unfulfilled promises of GM foods 4

Conclusion 5

References 6

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 GM FOODS AND THE MISSION OF FEEDING THE
WORLD

Introduction

By 2050, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affair (2015),

the world population is predicted to raise up to above 9 billion, which poses a challenge for

human beings to attain global food supplies satisfying “a burgeoning population” while reducing

environmental pressure (Foley, 2011 as cited in Cassidy 2015). Over the past few decades,

genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or genetically engineered crops (GE crops) have been

considered as a potential solution to this issue. However, there are scientists who have opposite

opinion, make effort to deny GM foods and suggest other approaches, instead. Therefore, in

order to find this answer, this paper is aimed to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of GMOs

regarding to the global food security, which then help to lead to a conclusion about this subject.

The structure goes as follows: first the positive aspects of GM foods are discussed, followed by

the negative ones.

1. Positive sides

1.1 GMOs: better crops protection

Nowadays, thanks to the improvement of biotech, GE crops have stronger crops protection than

ever. Genetic modification helps plants grow up well under unfavorable environmental

conditions, such as: weeds, bugs, lacks of water, which natural plants are incapable of. It is the

reason why GE crops are suitable to be grown widely in South Africa (SA), where the weather

is severe with a large number of deserts. As a result, according to the statistics from the

International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Application (ISAAA, 2016), the

biotech crops in SA are estimated to be 2.7 million hectares, an impressing number that makes

this country a biotech- mega country. In addition, it will be a huge loss if two GM traits: insect

and herbicide tolerance are not mentioned; as Searchinger, Hanson, & Lacape, (2014), these are
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the traits that have made GMOs dominate the market to date. Some outstanding examples of GM

crops include herbicide resistant soybeans, sugar beets, and pest resistant corn and cotton, which

reduce crop losses caused by insects and diseases (“Genetically modified crops in Africa”, 2

1.2 GMOs: higher yielding crops

Adopting the biotechnology into agriculture through introducing GM traits, contributes to the

increase in the crops production. Thanks to better resistance to unfavorable environmental

conditions of GM crops, the loss of yield gain due to insect pests and fungal attack during and

after the harvest would be reduced. Therefore, there would be a substantial improvement in yield,

which is seen in both developed and developing countries. According to the statistics from PG

Economics (2009, as cited in Monsanto, 2017), in the countries where the insects resistant and

herbicide tolerant plants are adopted, the yield increases have averaged from 9 up to more than

50 percent.

1.3 Development in nutrient supplies and environmental benefits

In order to solve the problems of lacking of essential nutrition, GM foods which contain these

nutrition have been introduced. For instance, in developing countries mainly in Africa and South-

East Asia, it is estimated by the World Health Organization (n.d) that approximately 250 million

children who under the age of 6-9 were at risk of vitamin A deficiency (VAD), which may lead

to blindness. Then, the introduction of the Golden Rice, which can produce vitamin A is

considered as a realistic solution to combat VAD. In addition, there are also other GM foods that

have been engineered to provide higher level of protein, calcium or folate.

Besides, the environment can potentially benefit from the adoption of GM crops. Recently, the

scientists have introduced the “Bt” plants which are engineered to produce a natural insecticide.

Due to this ability, the need for pesticide that is harmful to the environment would be reduced.

For example, according to Phipps (2002, as cited in “Genetically Modified Crops”, 2010), during

the period from 1997 to 2009, the usage of pesticide in United States was declined 13 million kg

after the introduction of GE crops. Noticeably, as the United States Environmental Protection

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Agency (2010) has claimed, these Bt toxins are found to be “lethal” only to insects and safe to

human beings.

Despite the advantages which have been discussed above, there are many disadvantages of GM

foods that should be considered carefully.

2. Negative sides

2.1 Food safety concerns

The food safety is one of the most controversial topics when GM foods are mentioned, and the

public attitudes towards this issue seem uncertain. Thanks to the development of biotechnology,

GM foods are produced by inserted directly desirable traits into DNA of plants. Thus, it is easy

to understand the reasons for concerns of being allergic or transforming DNA in human body

after consumption of GE foods. Although there have been many experiments to be carried out

to evaluate the safety of GM foods and no certain evidences have been found to prove that GMOs

can harm people (Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2004), the reliability of

GM foods could not be 100 percent ensured. The question is whether there are no risks of GM

foods to human or they have not been found yet. In comparison with natural products which have

been testified throughout millions of years, it would be too early to conclude absolutely that GM

foods do not harm human beings.

2.2 Long term ecological impacts of GM crops

Recent researches have found the damage that the ecology suffers after the adoption of GM

crops, especially the Bt one. GM traits can be a strong defense to protect plants from harmful

insects. However, the Bt poison can also harm various useful insects that helps the pollination

and pest predators. Pimentel (2000, as cited in “Genetically Modified Crops”, 2010) pointed out

that Monarch butterflies, the main pollinators in North America will not feed on corn plants as

usual due to Bt poisoning. Moreover, that GE crops are adopted will lead to an unexpected

consequence: the weeds become more resistant to herbicides. Although GM traits gain score by

reducing the usage of herbicides, this new problem even makes farmers use larger quantity and

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higher quality of herbicides. That partly explains why since 20003, the total herbicides and

pesticides usage in the United States increased 10 percent (Cherry, 2010, as cited in “Genetically

Modified Crops”, 2010).

2.3 Unfulfilled promises of GM foods

GM foods have been considered as the key factor to deal with the world hunger; however after

more than 20 years of adoption, the GMOs have not contributed enough to food security. Firstly,

the major usage of GM products is not to feed the hunger. As Barrows (2014, as cited in Cassidy,

2011) claims, the global GE crops are mainly corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beet and canola, in

which corn and soybeans account for approximately 80 percent. However, this majority ends up

not being used for human, but for animals or making biofuels. In other word, our cars and castles

are the main objection of GM foods consumption.

Secondly, the GE crops have not really made a significant contribution to food supply.

Searchinger et al. (2014) claims that to date, it is the traditional crossbreeding, not the GE crops

that has made dominant source of yield increases. Also, according to the statistics from United

Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (2013, as cited in Cassidy, 2015), when the average

yields of non-GM corn and soybeans in Europe are compared to these of GM corn and soybeans

in United States during 1986-2013, there was only a slight difference.

Moreover, at first side, it is believed that the adoption of GM foods should benefit the poor

farmers greatly, but it turns out to be different. Although farmers can get advantages from the

decrease in the money used for pesticides, the real benefits are not much because the money they

spend on buying seeds is huge. The farmers now have to rely on the companies for seeds and

have no choice but to buy even though the prices of seeds are growing very fast. According to

the U.S. Department of Agriculture (as cited in Roseboro, 2013), the average cost of soybean

and corn seed increased 325 percent and 259 percent, between 1995 and 2011.

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Conclusion

After discussing both good and bad sides of GM foods, the answer to the question about the role

of GM foods in the fight to world hunger would be a bit clearer. GMO is the result of applying

high technology into agriculture, and its traits potentially benefits people greatly. However,

around the adoption of GM crops there are still uncertainties and concerns which require a giant

leap in science to elucidate totally. Therefore, at this time, GM foods are not really suitable for

the mission of feeding the world. Instead, it is highly possible that this mission can be

accomplished by other approaches that focus on reducing food wastes. The first thing to do is to

shift crops that are used for biofuels back to food production; then, the calorie supply all over

the world will grow by 8 percent. Moreover, there is a theory that if food wastes in field, at

storage, at grocery shop and at home can be eliminated, the global calorie supply would be

increased by 33 percent (Cassidy, 2015). In short, while waiting for a precise answer from the

scientists about GM crops, people can rely on other potential solutions to revolutionize the global

food system.

Total words: 1557

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 References

Cassidy, E. (2015). Feeding the world without GMOs. Washington DC: Environmental
Working Group. Retrieved from https://www.ewg.org/research/feeding-world-without-
gmos#.WkpJJlVl-M8

Genetically modified crops in Africa (2008a). In Encyclopedia of Earth. Retrieved from

www.eoearth.org/article/Genetically_modified_crops_in_Africa
Genetically Modified Crops. (2010). Mission 2014: Feeding the world. Retrieved from
http://12.000.scripts.mit.edu
Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 2004. Safety of Genetically Engineered
Foods: Approaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects. Washington, DC: The National
Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10977
ISAAA. (2016). Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2016. ISAAA Brief No.
52. ISAAA: Ithaca, NY
Monsanto. (2017). Do GM Crops Increase Yield? Retrieved from https://monsanto.com/
Roseboro, K. (2013). GE seed monopoly. Retrieved from https://www.pccmarkets.com/sound-
consumer/2013-09/ge_seed_monopoly/
Searchinger, T., Hanson, C., & Lacape, JM. 2014. Crop Breeding: Renewing the Global
Commitment. Washington DC: World Resources Institute.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2015). World population
projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/development/desa
World Health Organization. (n.d). Micronutrient deficiencies vitamin A deficiency. Retrieved
from https://http://www.who.int/en/

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