bioengineering

Bioengineered Food

INTRODUCTION: 15 million. That’s equivalent to about 1 in 20 Americans today. 15 million is the number of children that are going to die this year, almost chiefly due to malnutrition and hunger. A statistic from care.org states that over 6 of those 15 million are children under the age of 5.
THESIS: To address this problem, I first need to define the problem of world hunger, then I’ll tell you about bioengineered food, and finally how bioengineered food can be used as a solution for the problem.

BODY:

I. Firstly, I’ll discuss the problem.
a. World hunger is rampant
i. Care.org states that 54 nations do not produce enough food to feed themselves, and cannot afford to import the food they need, despite the fact that they have the potential to grow it. Droughts, conflicts, and other events are partly responsible for this.
ii. According to library.thinkquest.org, nearly half the world lives on less than $2 a day.
b. Food that is out there in the world isn’t always good quality.
i. Not all the food is producing the necessary vitamins and minerals needed by the body.
ii. Also, there is not a large variety available to everyone. Many farmers in the world are still relying on subsistence farming, meaning they only farm enough to survive. Not a lot of variety stems from this type of farming. It may not be possible for the people to get the vitamins, minerals, or other necessary elements that they need from their food.

Transition: Now that you know the problem, I’ll tell you about bioengineered food.

II. Here are some facts about bioengineered food.
a. Bioengineered food is made by inserting foreign genes into the genetic codes of the food. This is known as recombining DNA.
b. According to an article from American.edu, bioengineered food makes up about 60% of produce today, at least to some degree.
c. Howstuffworks.com lists off some common foods that are produced via recombining DNA as tomatoes, potatoes, squash, corn, and soybeans.
d. There are some concerns about bioengineered food
i. Allergic reactions are theoretically possible, such as when peanut genes are injected elsewhere. If someone is allergic to peanuts, they could feasibly have a reaction to the food.
ii. By recombining DNA, there may be unexpected and potentially harmful genetic changes that can occur.

Transition: There are some risks with bioengineered food, but now I’ll tell you how you it can be used for our advantage.

III. Bioengineered food has many advantages for the world.
a. According to an article by Michael Schriber of Foxnews.com, there is a strain of bioengineered corn that can more effectively be broken down so that it can be used in the production of ethanol. That means gas prices would eventually go down because the process would be faster and cheaper.
b. A future advantage of bioengineering food is that it will be possible to create food without the assistance of the animals themselves. An article by Robert Britt of space.com, explains how strips of goldfish meat were cut away from the fish and then grown afterwards. The chunks of fish meat were quickly washed in alcohol and submerged in fetal bovine serum. The serum was taken from the blood of unborn calves. One week gave a 14% increase in size of the fish meat. The process may not be tasteful and the results weren’t extraordinary, but there is the potential for artificially created food to appear at the dinner table.
c. It’s important to understand that the food itself has many advantages
i. The food that’s created is more nutritious. It contains important things that are not present already.
ii. Recombining the DNA also can make the food taste better.
iii. Another advantage is that the food can grow faster and will use fewer pesticides.
iv. The food will also be cheaper and will have longer shelf lives.
d. A 2002 article by Rick Blizzard from Gallup.com, states that 30% of Americans try to actively avoid eating bioengineered food. 52% of Americans supported using bioengineered food in 2001. In the same poll, 30% of Americans believed that using bioengineered food posed a significant health hazard.

CONCLUSION: Hunger in the world is a major problem and bioengineered food is the start to the solution. Dozens of people have died from starvation while I’ve been up here talking. To do your part, you need to support bioengineered food whenever possible. Buy bioengineered food at the store. Support the production and research of bioengineered food whenever possible. The food is cheaper, faster, healthier, and has a longer shelf life and it could be the difference between life and death for the 15 million children at risk this year.









Works Cited:

“The world hunger problem: Facts, Figures, and Statistics”. Library.thinkquest.org. Retrieved 31 October 2007 from http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm

“Facts about hunger”. Care.org. Retrieved 31 October 2007 from http://www.care.org/campaigns/world-hunger/facts.asp

“Genetically Engineered Food”. HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved 31 October 2007 from http://healthguide.howstuffworks.com/genetically-engineered-foods-dictionary.htm

“Ted Case Studies”. American.edu. Retrieved 31 October 2007 from www.american.edu/TED/dolly.htm

Schirber, Michael. “”Bioengineered Corn Can Begin Own Fermentation into Ethanol”. Retrieved 31 October 2007 from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275057,00.html

Blizzard, Rick. “Bioengineered Food? Sure, If It’s not Fattening” Gallup.com. Retrieved 31 October 2007 from http://www.gallup.com/poll/6583/Bioengineered-Food-Sure-Its-Fattening.aspx

“Food of the Future: Fish Flesh Grown without the Fish”. Robert Britt. Space.com. Retrieved 31 October 2007 from http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/generalscience/fish_food_020329.html