(Photo credit: Nubites)
GM food, otherwise known as genetically modified food, some say it's safe, some say it's hazardous. Mysterious to many and a staple to others. Supposedly highly sought after by farmers. So what really is GM food? Does GM food harm or help people?
Well let us speak about what GM food is and how it's made. GM foods are food products genetically modified to have certain traits. An example of such a food is seedless grapes, for the convenience of people who do not wish to deal with the numerous seeds from the grapes. So as we can tell, these traits differ from what is the norm of these food products when found in nature. Most people think that only food products from plant sources can be genetically modified, however this is very incorrect. Meats are most likely genetically modified. Such as in salmon that are modified to be larger and stronger than usual in the wild to increase yield of salmon products in aquaculture. It sounds extremely profitable to farmers to have a improved version of everything right? Well GM food does have its drawbacks to farmers as well. Notice how GM food, especially plant products, are significantly more pricey than normal products? Well this is because companies selling seeds of GM food tend to disallow reproduction of the plant. This is for the need of farmers to constantly buy seeds so that the company earns more profit. So what good has GM food brought to humans? Well there is a famous example that testifies the power of GM food and that is the Golden Rice Project ran by the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board. Golden rice is a genetically modified version of rice that, as the name suggests, is gold in colour and is packed full of Vitamin-A. The Golden Rice Project was originally started to combat night-blindness, a Vitamin-A deficiency, commonly occurring amongst less developed countries where access to fresh and nutritious food is scarce. With golden rice, this staple food satisfies the necessary Vitamin-A daily intake and has been a phenomenal innovation by the biotech industry and prevents about a third of all under-five deaths, which amounts to up to 2.7 million children that could be saved from dying unnecessarily. Now time to answer the question that everyone wants to know, is GM food harmful or not? Well the answer is yes and no. Towards us humans, GM food is generally safe and is approved by the FDA ( Food and Drug Administration). In some rare cases, some people may develop certain allergies. Towards the environment however, GM Food is extremely harmful. Genetically modified plants such as pest resistant vegetables can cause the decline of certain pests in an area. This doesn't sound so bad, heck it even sounds great. However, this is extremely bad to the environment. Some predators may rely heavily on this pest and killing it off may destroy the balance in the ecosystem. A simple example of this can be represented in a simple food chain as represented below. Maize/Corn -> Corn Borer (Maize-eating worm) -> Birds Now to put it simply, the bird populations will dwindle down. Why? Well the birds rely on the corn borers for food but when GM Corn is introduced, the corn will contain Bt proteins, a toxin to the corn borer, hence killing the corn borer, reducing the amount of food sources for the birds. Another problem is the possibility of the corn borers gaining a resistance against Bt, hence giving rise to a generation of unstoppable corn borers. Now let us look at the same food chain that is slightly different. Maize/Corn (Nectar) -> Monarch Butterfly Now this is where it gets interesting. Some of ya'll may think so what? This isn't affecting humans. Well it does here. With the nectar of the maize now being toxic to the butterfly, the maize will not be able to be pollinate. You see, as the butterfly goes on the flower of the maize to drink nectar, the pollen falls on the butterfly. As the butterfly travels to other maize flowers, the pollen from the butterfly falls onto the new flower. This is known as cross-pollination. Without pollination, the flowers will never be able to turn into corns which are the crops we humans want. Maize being a staple to most countries of the US, GM crops may destroy the US food export economy and food supply of maize. This is just one of the many examples of GM crops and its impact on the environment, many more examples are out there. From this all, we can conclude that GM food has no harm onto humans, in fact it has brought us alot of good. GM food however, harms the environment and can cause a lack of biodiversity. Now it's up to you to decide if you support GM food or not.
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(Photo credits: BBC.com) When we think of clean energy we think of solar and wind. When we think of fuel we think of oil and gas. But what about clean fuel? Perhaps some of you can name me biofuel. Biofuel is fuel derived from plant matter such as palm and sugar cane. But what if I tell you, the unwanted algae you try so hard to scrub off every week in your fish tank is a blooming industry in the biofuel department and is gaining popularity.
(Photo credits: theconfluencecast.com) Coffee is not just an addiction, it's a way of life to most. Coffee is a staple to the mornings of the people who enjoy it and nothing does better than coffee to wake up anyone. Coffee farming has been a multi-billionaire business and it's fueled by the millions of coffee drinkers in the world. Cafes like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts run close to solely on coffee and has made large success with their coffee chains, testifying the significance of the presence of coffee in our global economy. Yet, the economy for coffee is dropping and the profits from the agricultural business for coffee is dropping steadily. This begs the question of why? Why would such a stable and profitable business suddenly be failing in the pass few years?
Well the root of the issue is back into the soil; agriculture of coffee plants has become more and more difficult for the many farmers looking for a profit from this business. Scientists say half of the world's coffee would be wiped out by 2050 by an infectious fungus spreading spreading in tropical countries. This fungus is the coffee leaf rust. This fungal infection was so bad in the past it forced many to switch and grow tea. Another reason for the difficulty of growing coffee now is climate change and global warming. As the precipitation increases in tropical climate, the rate of fungal spreading increases. Coffee plants grow well in about a temperature of 64°–70°F /18°C–21°C. However average temperatures in Brazil, the largest exporter of coffee, has average temperatures of 73°F to 81 °F /23°C to 27 °C in coastal areas and a highest of 100°F /38°C in mainland areas. This is way above the optimal range for coffee, bringing coffee growing to its decline. All of these issues forced the farmers to change the species of coffee plants they grow. There are 2 main coffee plants grown; Robusta and Arabica. Arabica is more susceptible to disease but yields high quality sweet coffee fruits sold at about $1.60/lb while the Robusta variant is more hardy but yields a lower quality bitter coffee, sold at about $0.85/lb. Farmers are now all switching to Robusta, lowering total profit to ensure a sustainable yield. Soon. no farmers would want to grow Arabica, leaving the world with low quality coffee and, maybe, even switch to tea, reducing the total coffee output in the world. As coffee becomes harder to grow, it becomes more expensive for anyone to have a cup of coffee every morning. For the coffee farmers, life becomes harder and a crop that had once helped them may not be a loss in profit. Very soon, a coffee a morning may be a thing of the past and cafes may be forced to shut down. The way of life of almost half of all Americans and many more in the world may just come to a complete halt due to climate change and if we do not do our best to combat global warming, it'll be gone in a blink of an eye. If this doesn't motivate you to help conserve the environment, the drink motivating you every morning will no longer be around. Great white shark (Photo credits: BBC.com) I'm sure you've ever walked into a Chinese restaurant and see a peculiar dish when looking through the menu; Shark Fin Soup. But you probably brushed off the item due to the ridiculous price, or if you did order it, end up with this beautiful broth topped with this translucent bland lackluster flop of fin on it. Now you start to wonder to yourself, why in god gracious heck is this bland and tasteless fin worth so much money? Well this is due to Chinese tradition. It is considered by Chinese as one of the eight treasured foods from the sea. Shark fin soup held a symbolic significance to the Chinese, being served usually only at special occasions such as weddings, banquets, and important business deals. It symbolizes wealth, power, prestige, and honor as well as a symbol of respect and appreciation to the guests. How exactly is shark's fin obtained though? The unknowing sharks are caught and dragged on board the boat, finned mercilessly as it suffocates and thrown back into the ocean alive but fin-less, unable to swim, eat and struggle as it meets its demise. Sharks are caught and finned indiscriminately, regardless of size, age and species, sharks are reeled in for cold cash. In my opinion, there is no better way show the cruelty of this process than by images of the process. Its a painful and grim sight to see. Some wonder how a simple tradition can end up fueling the endangerment of these ancient creatures, surviving mass extinctions and harsh environments, only to be backed to the verge of extinction by humans. Not so scary now huh? The fearsome apex predator, being hunted by our kind no less. The weakest of all animals with no claws or talons, only selfishness, that is the human race.
Chinese cooking has always been known for its use of everything of the source, from the meat of the chicken down to the bones, close to everything is used. Yet, in the cooking of shark's fin soup, only the fin of the shark is used. From the mind-boggling 650 USD / Kg for the fins to a measly 2 USD / Kg for the sharks meat. The shark's body isn't even worth hauling back, being worth less than any old flounder would be. By now, you've seen images you'd only thought you would see in hell and yet here it is, cold hard reality. You must be thinking how to help? How to stop this madness? The most direct and simple way is to stop eating shark's fin soup and spread the message to your friends and family and urge them all to do the same. Next, there are many organizations and movements aiming to stop this. To name a few, www.stopsharkfinning.net and www.defenders.org/sharks/stop-shark-finning. I highly recommend checking them out. As humans, we have a responsibility to stop this act of animal cruelty and I highly urge you to spread the awareness and join the movement especially this Chinese New Year, when shark's fin soup is at its peak of sales. (Photo credits: Wikiwand) The biotech industry has always been a flourishing industry with constant new innovations. This led to a rise in investments in the global biotech economy. Costs of doing biotech research has also significantly decreased. One example of cheaper research costs is the cost of DNA sequencing. Sequencing technology has advanced so far that prices has dropped from almost $10,000 per megabase to less than a dollar per megabase. The graph below shows the rapid rate of increasing affordability of DNA sequencing, dropping by half almost every year. Time and time again the biotech industry amazes us with its remarkable growth and life changing works such as gene therapy and genetic modification.
So why is the biotech industry dying? To answer this question first we must look at what the biotech industry is doing for the general public. Lets name what the biotech industry has done to change lives: Gene therapy, creation of GM Food, Cancer treatments... ... ...well? Not many more huh? This is the problem of lack of transparency and educating the public on what the biotech industry actually is doing! Perhaps you could name research going on such as stem cell research or research for new vaccines and antibiotics, but the general public doesn't seem to know more! If we do not educate our investors in what we are actually doing, how are we going to maintain the confidence of our investors? Many of you people in business are there shouting " WITH GOOD MARKETING OF COURSE!" Well this is where the second issue comes about. Products of the biotech industry is falsely being marketed. To understand how it's falsely being marketed, me must look at the general public's view on how our products work. Lets look at sequencing technology again shall we? To a general public's point of view, DNA sequencing is most likely to perhaps get a blood sample, run it in a machine and voilà! We now have your whole genome. This is very wrong! It is definitely not as simple as that! Marketing and advertising our products so falsely like this is extremely detrimental to the biotech economy. Sure, we will get investors in the short run but once we are unable to produce products of the level of advancement we are advertising as, we will lose these investors! Soon, we won't have any investors and the whole industry will crash. Losing investors is one thing but once we start to lose the confidence of people looking to join the industry, all we are left with is our senior professors with no one to mentor or teach. That might just mark the end of an era for the advancement in biotechnology. And this is why the biotech industry might fall. If we don't start changing the way the biotech industry is run, this economy will just crash and burn. Beautiful Mediterranean beach of Greece (Photo credits SoarLegs) Greece has been in deep water for quite some time, but what is really happening in Greece? Let us take a look in history to determine the cause of Greece's current financial state.
First let us talk about what happened when Greece started using the Euro. The Euro is a shared currency across all countries in the Eurozone: Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Etc. The introduction of the Euro helped the countries using it, reducing trade costs among Eurozone countries and increasing total trade volume. This no doubt helped Greece's economy grow, for a short while. So what happened? Salmon fillets on sale at a market (Photo credits: GEEKworld) Salmon has always been an essential to the world of cooking. Some may even claim its a miracle food, packed with omega-3 fatty acids and essential amino acids, it is a wonderful and nutritious ingredient that goes well on any dinner table. With the many qualities that makes salmon a potential candidate for best-food-ever, it comes as no surprise that salmon is one of the most over-fished aquatic life. However, its worse than ever before and it may even be history at the time you're reading this article.
Salmon is well-known for its reproductive cycle, they are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water to mate, returning to its birth place to lay their eggs and mate. Salmon are essential to the ecology of the location of spawning as well, they are a great food source to bears that commonly travel to the fresh water streams the salmon spawn in. This is where most of the wild salmon is fished by humans as well. Salmon eggs/roe, a delicacy in Japanese cuisine, is also collected here. This is where the problem begins, fishing of salmon here, before the salmon is allowed to spawn, is extremely detrimental to salmon populations. Since people have realised the unsustainability of salmon fishing, people have turned to aquaculture, farming salmon to continue to feed the ever-increasing demand. Now we have to answer the question of if salmon aquaculture sustainable. Well in short, it's questionable. Farming of salmon has brought new issues to the table. Farming of salmon requires large areas of space. This causes the need for destruction of habitats such as mangrove swamps and reefs for salmon farming. Needless to say, this is bad for the environment. In commercial farming of salmon, various steroids such as growth hormones and antibiotics are used. This allows larger and stronger salmon to be farmed to maximise yield. This however, may cause certain allergies to be formed and may cause antibiotic-resistances to be formed in bacteria. Salmon are also genetically modified with genes of larger salmon species or eels to create larger offspring. This can destroy the balance in ecosystems if released into the wild, potentially allowing these modified salmon to move up the food chain and destroy the balance in the ecosystem. Finally, the farming of salmon in an enclosed area will allow rapid spread of diseases. The most common and most disastrous disease is ISA (Infectious salmon anemia virus). This infectious disease now infects large fisheries in Canada, Norway, and many more. This infectious disease can cause a wipe-out of a salmon farm, completely destroying any future salmon produce. The multimillionaire salmon industry has taken a deep plunge into the pit of despair and is most likely going to fail in the coming years. Some say salmon is a lost case and will most likely be gone within a few decades. |
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