Genetically Modified Food (GMOs): Annotated Bibliography Essay

Genetically modified food’s, or GMOs, goal is to feed the world's malnourished and undernourished population. Exploring the positive side to GMOs paints a wondrous picture for our planet’s future, although careful steps must be taken to ensure that destruction of our ecosystems do not occur. When GMOs were first introduced into the consumer market they claimed that they would help eliminate the world’s food crisis by providing plants that produced more and were resistant to elemental impacts like droughts and bacterial contaminants, however, production isn’t the only cause for the world’s food crisis. Which is a cause for concern because the population on the earth is growing and our land and ways of agriculture will not be enough to feed everyone sufficiently. No simple solutions can be found or applied when there are so many lives involved. Those who are hungry and those who are over fed, alike, have to consider the consequences of Genetically Mo dified Organisms. Food should not be treated like a commodity it is a human necessity on the most basic of levels. When egos, hidden agendas, and personal gains are folded into people's food sources no one wins. As in many things of life, there is no true right way or wrong way to handle either of the arguments and so many factors are involved that a ‘simple’ solution is simply not an option. Dr. Noah Zerbe is a professor and chair of the department of politics at Humboldt State University in California and someone who has spent time in both South Africa and Zimbabwe. Dr. Zerbe goes in depth into the factors that surrounded the 2002 famine in Africa, where 14 million Africans were on the brink of starvation. The Malawi president, just a season before the famine, sold off all of Mal... ...e in Southern Africa. Food Policy, 29(6), 593-608. doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2004.09.002 Scanlan, S. (2013). Feeding the Planet or Feeding Us a Line? Agribusiness, 'Grainwashing' and Hunger in the World Food System.International Journal Of Sociology Of Agriculture & Food, 20(3), 357-382. Clausen, R. and Longo, S. (2012), The Tragedy of the Commodity and the Farce of AquAdvantage Salmon. Development and Change, 43: 229–251. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2011.01747.x. Okigbo, R., Iwube, J., & Putheti, R. (2011). An extensive review on genetically modified (GM) foods for sustainable development in Africa. E-Journal Of Science & Technology, 6(3), 25-44. Puduri, V., Govindasamy, R., & Nettimi, N. (2010). Consumers' perceptions toward usefulness of genetically modified foods a study of select consumers in USA. IUP Journal Of Agricultural Economics, 7(3), 7-17.