Paragraph redaction

1. ING 102Homework 1
Read the research material provided on genetically modified food and write a paragraph
discussing the two contrasting views on the issue.Give specific details and examples from
the research material in the form of paraphrases and/or summaries. Do not forget to
give appropriate citations for the borrowed information.
Source 1:
There are two main types of food allergies: acute (or immediate) and delayed. Allergic diseases of
both types are on the rise for many reasons. We are becoming hypersensitive to our environments,
perhaps because we live in an over sterilized environment and our immune systems don't mature
properly. Or because we are eating hybridized and genetically modified (GMO) foods, full of
antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, and additives, all of which were unknown to our immune
systems just a generation or two ago. The result? Our immune system becomes unable to
recognize friend from foe–to distinguish between foreign molecular invaders we truly need to
protect against and the foods we eat or, in some cases, our own cells.
Hyman, M. (2008).The ultramind solution: Fix your broken brain by healing your body first. New
York: Scribner, p. 54.
Source 2:
The world will have another three billion mouths to feed within the next five decades. It therefore
makes sense to review the options by which the planet secures its food supplies. Genetically-modified
crops, as the Government yesterday suggested, are one major option.
Population growth means the world needs more food from fewer inputs and GM offers an avenue
which must be explored. GM maize, soya and cotton and have been cultivated elsewhere in the world
for the best part of a decade and thrown up no major health or ecological problems.
Genetically-modified food for thought (2009).The Independent. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from:
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Source 3:
Genetically-modified crops are not the solution to spiraling food prices or Third World hunger,
according to a powerful international report published yesterday. Questions remain over their effects
on human health and the environment, it warns.
Sixty governments, private industry, scientists, consumer groups and social campaigners have
delivered a blueprint for global agriculture for the next 50 years. It delivers a remarkable snub to
"Frankenstein Foods" and the industrialization of farming while offering a boost to organic and small-
scale agriculture. The authors also warned against the rush to grow crops to be turned into fuel -
biofuels - saying this could exacerbate food shortages and price rises.
The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development has
been working for five years to develop a new approach to world food production. Its director,
Professor Robert Watson, said the industrialization of farming since the Second World War has failed
to produce the food needed by the world. As a result, while the families in the West have plenty to eat,
some 850million people around the world go to bed hungry each night.
In recent months, GM companies, trade bodies and associated scientists have issued a deluge of
propaganda suggesting biotech crops are the key to feeding the Third World.
Poulter, S. (2008).GM foods 'not the answer' to world's food shortage crisis.Dailymail.

2. In the debate on benefits and disadvantages of GM food, there are two main positions which are
contradictory in several respect, but disadvantages are stronger. On one hand, there are those who
consider them as the best option for the eradication of hunger in world. In the article "Genetically-
modified food for thought" posted August 11, 2009 by British newspaper The Independent, they argue
that to ensure food security to the next generation in an overpopulated world, we must resort to
genetically modified food. They say that as the world population is growing at high rates, the best way
to ensure food in a safe way for both, environment and human health, we must resort to the extensive
cultivation of GM food. By contrast, many others believe that overpopulation is not an argument for
resorting to this kind of food, because they considered it a threat to humanity. According to Hayman,
GM food is responsible for the high rates of allergies in our generation. He says that these foods are
full of harmful chemicals unknown for our immune system, so its response is to protect the body, and
the allergies arise. And not only human health can be affected by this kind of food, also environment
could suffer. As we can see, each position has strong arguments, but it is also true that the
indiscriminate cultivation and consumption of GM food could lead us into a disastrous ending.
(August,11,2009)