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Will Biotechnology overcome World food shortages?

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Will biotechnology overcome world food shortage? Biotechnology is using living organisms to make products that help the human health and environment. Microorganisms can be used to produce food such as milk, yoghurt, alcohol, soy sauce and cheese. They are fermented in vessels that have optimum conditions helping the microorganisms to grow and respire an/aerobically. An example is the production of yeast, provided with a lot of oxygen, the cells respire aerobically breaking down the sugar and producing waste products, carbon dioxide and water. With a lack of oxygen they respire anaerobically producing ethanol and carbon dioxide. Alcohol is formed in this way. Optimum conditions include the right temperature, pH and the right amount of oxygen. ...read more.


Farming the land is the engine of progress in less developed countries." Biotechnology can increase crop yields encouraging the amount of food in developing countries. More jobs will be available helping the people of the country earn more money and sustaining their standard of living. Certain biotechnology foods are designed to be resistant to pests and diseases allowing farmers to use fewer chemicals, such as pesticides and herbicides, while still maintaining a healthy, high-yielding crop. Reducing the usage of chemicals is beneficial for water and wildlife. On the other hand, many developing countries are poor but they have a lot of forests and natural resources for biotechnology that would help them. ...read more.


Plants from biotechnology can deal with these problems and dramatically increase the percentage of crops that survive and are harvested each year. Biotechnology can help eliminate hunger worldwide, but it is not the only thing needed because social and economic factors will also affect whether it is right or wrong. Some countries do not have enough food already and with the world population increasing massively, the demand of food will also increase. The genetically modified food can produce more yield benefiting the farmers as they will receive more money. The world produces enough food but it is not equally distributed leading to an uneven spread. Genetically modified food and fermenters are too costly for farmers in developing countries so it will be very unlikely they will be able to afford it. World food shortage will only be overcome if food is distributed properly. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Foods-from-Microorganisms.topicArticleId-8524,articleId-8519.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3340417/Food-shortages-how-will-we-feed-the-world.html http://gcserevision101.wordpress.com/biology-b3/ http://www.foodinsight.org/Resources/Detail.aspx?topic=Fact_Sheet_Benefits_of_Food_Biotechnology http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ofnote/06-11time.mspx ...read more.

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