Tinkering with our future food

1/18/2016 Tinkering with
our Future Food
Organic Food versus Genetically
Modified Food - which is better for
human race?
Lalit Jayanti
THE IITIANS PRASHIKSHAN KENDRA PVT. LTD.

Tinkering with our Future Food
1
Acknowledgements
I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to Prajakta Godbole,
our school science teacher, my parents and friends, for their guidance, valuable information
and cordial support which helped me in completing this project through various stages. There is
a wealth of information on the internet by way of description of the process, analysis and
various case studies. I wish to thank all those who have helped me indirectly, in my project but
are too numerous to mention individually. I full heartedly thank the institution for giving me
this opportunity to create this report and thus gain knowledge. Finally I would also like to
thanks all those who helped me in this projects but missed their names by oversight.

2
Preface
Food is an essential part of our lives. Food is something which provides a living organism energy
and helps it maintain /sustain its own life. It mostly contains carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins
and minerals (nutrients). It can be obtained from both animals and plants. There are many
types of food i.e. organic food, inorganic food, genetically modified food, etc. Here we are
mostly going to consider organic food and genetically modified food. There is a need of lot of
food as to feed the population of the whole world. So for this we need a mass production of
food. Here are a few ways of how food is produced.
Organic Food
It produced using organic farming. It prohibits the use of any inorganic pesticides, weedicides,
herbicides, insecticides. Also the use of chemical/inorganic fertilizers is prohibited. A few other
methods such as irradiation and gene modification are not allowed. The products like meat
(pork, mutton, chicken, etc.) dairy products (milk, butter, cheese etc.) are produced without use
of antibiotics, growth hormones.
Inorganic Food
It is that food which is produced using methods such as grafting, selective breeding is used. The
use of pesticides, weedicides, herbicides, insecticides are also allowed. Even use of
chemical/inorganic fertilizers is allowed. Animals like pigs, chickens, lamb are given antibiotics,
growth hormones etc. To make them bigger and fatter, also immune to many diseases.
Genetically Modified Food
It is that food which is produced by making minor changes in the DNA of an organism. It
provides a control over the traits of the organism. Foods such as soybean and corn are
genetically modified.
Even animals are genetically modified e.g. pigs, chickens, and lamb. This is to make the
organism immune to various diseases. The use of inorganic pesticides, weedicides, herbicides,
insecticides is also less.
There are lot of controversies about supporting organic food and supporting genetically
modified food. So, now there is a need to study and analyze the types of food to find out which
is better for the human race.

3
Table of Contents
1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................................4
2 Literature Survey..................................................................................................................................6
3 Analysis.................................................................................................................................................9
4 Case Studies .......................................................................................................................................15
5 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................18
6 References..........................................................................................................................................20

4
1 Introduction
1.1 Project Objectives
The main aim of the project is to find which kind of food is better for human race by verifying
case studies and other evidences. This study has to be done carefully as not only to find short
term benefits to human race but also long term benefits or effects to the mankind.
The objective of the report is also to find out which kind of food is healthier, and convenient in
growing, consuming and maintaining. Along with this we also have to find which way of farming
these foods is more environment friendly (to eco system there, animals and the surrounding
area around it). In this way we also can find out which way of farming is convenient in growing
and maintaining.
1.2 Methodology
The aim of the project is to study organic and genetically modified food. It will be done by
doing literature survey and studying other evidences. Then the information will be analyzed
and the clearer idea will be created. Then with more detailed study and other case studies a
conclusion will be drawn.
The pros and cons of both organic food, genetically modified food will be found out and
compared. Then the typical problems caused by them will be verified. Then from that we can
find out which is better for human race.
.
Project Methodology
1.2.1Literature survey
This will help find out pros and cons, thoughts of various people, conspiracies, about the kinds
of food.
1.2.2Case studies
There is a need to do case studies as we can see what various incidents related to the types of
food have taken place and what its consequences were. From that we formulate the results of
what may happen and construct theories based on it.
Objective
Literature
Survey
Case studies Conclusions

5
1.2.3Conclusions
With the assistance of the case studies, evidences from various literatures and theories we can
make conclusions. These conclusions mostly will conclude which food is better and healthier
for consuming.

6
2 Literature Survey
There is food scarcity in the world for the following reasons
• Increasing population- the world has a very fast increase in population. But the food
production is less. So there is food scarcity.
• Poverty- there are many poor people in the world who can’t afford nutritious food for
themselves. They also can’t earn money as they are weak and become poorer. Thus the
hunger crisis only gets worse. While in developing countries, there is a problem of
farmers. They can’t afford the seeds, due to lack of money and other facilities such as
water and education. Because of this they can’t do their profession and thus can’t
produce food and suffer from it. But even if they are able to afford the seeds and have
all the needed facilities, various diseases, problems affect the produce because of
inefficient techniques of agriculture. It is not only the plants affected by it but also the
animals which are used to produce meat are affected by different kinds of diseases and
causing major loss in food production.
• Climate/natural calamities- because of climate changes, partly because of greenhouse
gas emissions, many plants have not adapted to it and can’t grow so the farming
becomes insufficient and the hunger crisis increases. Even natural disasters affect food
production, such as heavy rains, hail stones, drought, floods, and earthquakes. They
cause damage to land so the food produce is damaged and less food is provided.
• Food wastage- it is not only natural reasons that there is food shortage in the world,
people in the world waste one third of the food produced in all, that is 1.3 billion tons of
food. To produce that food 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases are emitted. This causes
problems in the environment. Because of such food wastage 1 in every 8 people in the
world are hungry.
2.1 Conventional Methods
To stop these problems related to growth of the plants we have started using
• Pesticides: to kill pests
• Algaecides: to kill algae
• Bactericides: to kill harmful bacteria
• Fungicides: to kill fungi
• Insecticides: to kill insects
• Rodenticides: to kill rodents
All the chemicals are inorganic and not only harmful to the target but also to the animals
around it and us too. But then that is done to produce mare food. Even chemical fertilizers such
as NPK fertilizer, NP fertilizer, NK fertilizer, PK fertilizer and NPKS fertilizer. (N-Nitrogen. K-
Potassium. P-Phosphorous, S-Sulphur.) This is done to make the soil fertile and give greater
produce. To make farm animals bigger and fatter, for their meat and other products. These
animals are fed anti-biotics, growth hormones and other inorganic substances. This turned out

7
to be harmful to us as well as to us and the animals. The use of Pesticides, Algaecides,
Bactericides, Fungicides, Insecticides and Rodenticides and chemical fertilizers destroy the soil
structure by making it too acidic or basic. The natural ecosystem there, is destroyed. New,
cleaner and more useful ways were found out.
Namely organic farming and genetic modification.
2.2 Organic Methods
It is done by using organic methods, the use sewage sludge, irradiation and chemicals to grow
plants is not allowed this is done to keep the food organic. They use only organic fertilizers like
bone meal and manure. It uses methods like:
• Crop rotation: different crops are grown in different seasons. This is done so that there
is least soil erosion and the crop which is grown will have the needed weather, water
and other facilities.
• Green manure: is after the needed products are removed from the crop it is mown and
left there to wither and decompose. Thus it replenishes the nutrients in the soil making
it fertile again.
• Compost: it is organic material/wet garbage like leaves, vegetable waste etc. are
covered in soil and when the waste rots it produces nutrients and acts as a fertilizer.
• Biological pest control: for the pests in a given field are introduced to natural enemies
and the pests are controlled.
Even the animals grown here are fed organic material e.g. fodder and organic grains. They
strictly are not fed anti-biotics, growth hormones to grow fast or become bigger or fatter.
2.3 Genetic Methods
Genetically modified food is “food produced from organisms that have had changes introduced
into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering.”1 Genetic modification is done by 2
ways selective breeding and mutation breeding.
1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food

8
gene modification
2.3.1Selective breeding
2 animals/plants with desired qualities are chosen (for
animal: 1 male, 1 female). Then their offspring mostly
has those qualities. This is done so that the animal or
plant which is present is very efficient in giving food.
After years of selective breeding: the same chicken type,
fed the same food in same amount. It turned out that
the kind of chicken which grew in 2005 was most
efficient in turning food into meat.
2.3.2Mutation breeding
Animals or plants which are needed to be mutated are mutated using radiation (X-rays, gamma,
alpha). Because of this a few desired changes like more survival rate, faster growth of the
animal or plant can be added in the DNA.
2.3.3Genetic engineering
This is done in labs artificially unlike selective
breeding done naturally. 2 or more different
animals/plants are taken with the needed
qualities and then their DNAs are broken and the
needed part of one DNA is replaced in the other
DNA of another species then it may be put in the
same animal’s/plant’s species or in another
animal/plant species. This is done so that the
animal with the new DNA will have the desired
qualities.
First a desired bacterium with a needed a trait is
chosen the desired part of the bacteria/organism is taken and it is put in another part of the
needed DNA of another organism. This DNA is put on a gold particle and put on a Teflon bullet
and loaded in a gene gun and shot at the cell of the needed organism and is cultured and breed.

9
3 Analysis
3.1 Population vs food
The world has an increasing population. The rate of the increasing population is also very high;
it needs food but the world does not produce that much food which is enough for all the
increasing population. The rate at which food is produced is also low. So people introduced a
new method, conventional farming.
3.2 Conventional methods
People started to use conventional methods to grow food, this increased food production. This
farming way uses Pesticides, Algaecides, Bactericides, Fungicides, Insecticides and Rodenticides
and chemical fertilizers in plants, this caused the food we eat to become toxic as traces of these
chemicals like glyphosate have been found in plant food. While in animal food there are traces
of inorganic substances which are also toxic. These animals are fed strong anti-biotics which is
bad for them and us. All in all, conventional farming in not convenient. So we started using 2
methods, organic farming and genetic modification.

10
Pros Cons
✓ It can easily be produced in largescale.
✓ The produce does not rot quickly as it has
preservatives in it.
✓ The cost farming is also low. It is also sold
cheap.
 It poses a threat to health of animals and
plants and us too.
 It is not eco-friendly as it damages its
surroundings.
 The chemicals used in it are very toxic and
sometimes traces of these are found in
food and people consume it making it even
more dangerous.
3.3 Food losses
Now it is seen that the most losses occur in production and near consumers. The reasons for
this are; (conventional food)
• Production: Due excess use of chemical on plants they can’t live and die. In animals the
use of strong anti-biotics cause animals lot of distress and sometimes kill them.
• Consumers: Consumers can’t consume the food as it does not have a very good taste
and throw it away. It is not nutritious too, so people don’t consume it much and throw it
away.

11
3.4 Reduction of farming land
Now by use of conventional methods; chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides etc. the land is
becoming too acidic to grow plants. The land is losing arability thus, there is reduced
production of food. So now people started using methods such as gene modification of plants
and its produce and organic farming of food. The population is increasing but the land’s
arability is decreasing.
Population vs food production
Food Pipeline

12
3.5 Genetically modified food
It is already modified to stay immune to diseases and parasites. So the use of pesticides and
inorganic fertilizers is less. Thus the land retains most of its nutrients. And also a few
harmless fertilizers are put in the soil from time to time like humus.
Pros Cons
✓ Genetically modified food generally has
better taste than conventional food as
food can be modified to be sweeter or
spicier.
✓ It is more resistant to diseases, insects,
and infections as it is modified to resist
them.
✓ They have more nutritional components
than conventional foods.
 By doing mutation breeding we can harm
the animals/plants and when we eat that
food it can have an effect us.
 Also there is damage to the surroundings
as the weeds, pathogens, insects adapt to
the ways of GM crops and become
stronger and so we have to create new GM
plants again and again.
 Also GM seeds are patented and due to
this their price is high.
3.6 Organic food
It is grown in the organic way thus the use of inorganic fertilizers in completely prohibited.
Thus the soil retains a lot of minerals and the use of compost, green manure help the land
stay arable.
Pros Cons
✓ Organic food is very healthy as it has 40%
less antioxidants than conventional food,
this reduces the risk of health and heart
disorders. Organic food contains salicylic
acids they prevent arteries from hardening
and cancer.
✓ Organic food does not pollute the
surrounding and maintain the ecosystem
of that area. As it uses no chemicals it is
ecofriendly. Thus organic farming
conserves water and soil.
✓ Organic foods contain more mineral salts,
nutritional components than conventional
foods making organic food look fresher.
 Organic food is very expensive and its
production is also less. So people normally
don’t buy it.
 Organic food does not last for long as it
has no preservatives. So it has to be
distributed fast or else it rots.
 There is only limited variety of organic
food so there is not much to choose from.
3.7 Comparison
Till now we have only discussed organic and genetically modified food as 2 different topics.
Now we shall weigh each foods’ pros and cons and conclude which one of them is better.

13
a. Environment:
Good food comes from good farming techniques and good environment. To keep the
environment where the food is grown, clean and maintained, we need a kind of farming
which does not pollute is surrounding much and is very ecofriendly.
i. Genetically modified food:
1. Due to mutation breeding of animals, sometimes unexpected diseases can arise and
cause problems.
2. Sometimes genetic engineering of plants and animals can have a side effects on the
plants and animals. Sometimes the weeds and Pathogens adapt to the GM foods
and become a bigger problem and affect other produce.
3. On other hand if GM seeds/animals do what they are engineered for without having
any side effects then the environment has least problem.
ii. Organic food
1. The organic method of growing animals and plants does not encourage the use of
inorganic fertilizers, irradiation, chemicals etc. are not allowed. Thus there are
normally no side effects and the crop yield is normally undisturbed.
2. The plants and animals grown here in the organic method and thus they normally
don’t have any issues of distress and the environment remains undisturbed.
3. Also this type of farming causes almost negligible impact on the environment as it is
the closest related way of growing food in the eco-friendly way.
b. Health:
Living organisms need to stay healthy in order to survive. To stay healthy, we need to
eat food with less toxins and other impure, in organic substances. But it is not only us
that need to stay healthy even the animals and plants we consume should be healthy.
1. Mutation breeding can sometimes cause genetic disorders and then its offspring can
carry the same problem and they may cause distress to the animal.
2. While if the genetically modified food is engineered properly then it grows very
nicely without any health problems.
ii. Organic food:
3. As the food is grown without use of chemicals, it suffers least possible number of
problems. Also as it is natural its offspring also does not normally suffer genetic
diseases.
4. But sometimes organic food is not properly taken care of and the health of the
animals and plants is damaged quickly as they have very less protection against
diseases.

14
c. Cost:
1. The GM crops are heavily patented thus the cost of growing this kind of
food is very costly.
2. Also its produce is costly as to make it lot of money and time is taken.
ii. Organic food:
1. To produce and maintain organic crops, it is comparatively less expensive
and is also sold at a price lesser than that of GM crops.

15
4 Case Studies
4.1 Flavr Savr
Flavr savr was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license
for human consumption. Tomatoes become soft quickly after picking, as an enzyme
polygalacturonase degrades pectin in the cell walls and the fruit becomes soft. So they were
picked when they were green and were ripened using ethylene gas, but the taste of those
tomatoes was not that good.
So a Californian company Calgene, genetically modified tomatoes to stay firm for a longer
period of time by slowing its ripening thus prevent it from softening, while still allowing the
tomato to retain its natural color and flavor.
To suppress the effects of polygalacturonase (PG), an antisense gene was added to the
tomatoes making them last longer and not rot quickly. These tomatoes even retained their true
color and taste. This was also given a license, that it was safe to the people and could be grown
commercially it was first sold in 1994 but its produce ceased in 1997. This is attributed to
people sentiments against genetic modification and poor marketing skills.

16
4.2 Hawaiian Papaya (Rainbow Papaya)
In present 80% of Hawaiian papayas are genetically engineered. Even today we have not found
a vaccine or an organic method to oppose ring spot virus. These papayas are also approved in
several Asian countries, Canada and U.S.
In Hawaii in early 1990’s a deadly ringspot virus affected the papayas and damaged most of the
produce. The ring spot virus caused ring shape patches appear on the outermost layer and the
virus destroyed the inside part of the papaya.
The papaya industry was about to fall. The university of Hawaii started to develop a papaya in
hope that it would ringspot virus resistant. A transgenic red fleshed sunset papaya which is
homozygous for protein coating gene PRVS ('SunUp’) and a non-transgenic yellow fleshed
papaya (‘Kapoho’) were crossed and in turn made a ring spot virus resistant papaya- rainbow
papaya. This papaya could be harvested even when the virus was widespread. By 1998 it had
the license to be grown commercially.
4.3 Soy
Soy is genetically modified to produce healthier oil and be tolerant to various weedicides. 94%
of soy beans are genetically modified in U.S. After the oil from these beans are removed the
remaining part is processed and turned into high protein content food.
4.4 Corn
Corn is genetically modified for better survival rate, for bigger yield. Also a certain protein is
made active which kills pests and pathogens of a few types. In U.S. 90% corn was genetically
modified in 2010. Later in 2015 it was made glyphosate tolerant (herbicide).

17
4.5 Aquadvantage Salmon
Salmon is eaten worldwide but it actually is a
small fish and only grows in spring and summer
and it has a slow growth rate. Aquabounty
technologies added a growth gene from a pacific
chinook and a promoter gene from an ocean pout
which helps in switching on a few desired genes,
to an Atlantic salmon. This helped the fish to grow
faster and bigger all-round the year and it reaches
commercial size in about a year. Also the survival
rate of these new salmon increased. This genetic modification is a transgenic one.
4.6 Irish Potato Famine
In Ireland 1845-49 potato was the main food. However, it so happened every crop grow the
same kind of potato. And an infection named potato blight affected the crops all the potatoes
were affected as there was no genetic diversity in these crops and thus the whole of Ireland
suffered. Around 1 million people died of starvation. 3 million migrated from Ireland. There
were lot of fund raising programs done by the British and finally in 1849 the potato blight
stopped. This happened as there no genetic variety of potatoes.

18
5 Conclusions
The world is having a rapid population growth, and by 2050 the world probably needs to feed a
population of 9 billion.
But the food production is not matching the need of the present population itself. The reason
for this is decrease in farm land as the excess use of chemicals, inorganic fertilizers, pesticides
etc. this increases salinity of the soil, due to this the pants can’t grow in it, thus the production
of food decreases.
Another reason for decreased food production is food loss. Almost 35% of total food produced
in the world is discarded for a few reasons like rotting of food, unfit food for taste and
increased toxins in food, also it is lost in pre harvesting, processing, etc.
This making a very dangerous impact on the environment as producing this food, which is
wasted. Lots of greenhouse gases are released in this process causing global warming. This has
now become a major problem of conventional food. So now to put an end to this problem we
have started to use alternative methods of Organic farming and genetically modified foods.
Organic foods are grow with help of organic techniques. This reduces the side effects caused by
the conventional food as it has no chemicals, inorganic fertilizers, pesticides which affect us.
But unfortunately it can almost do nothing too the food loss that takes place as it has no
preservatives to conserve it. This is why as it has an easy way to produce it is not costly at all.
Genetically modified foods are modified for pre harvest issues mostly as they are made immune
to diseases, more survival rate, pathogens, parasites and other harmful substances. However
transgenic variety of foods may be a problem as it may have side effects to the humans. Even
though it has side effects it has a less portion to contribute to food loss. This food is heavily
patented and is very costly to grow and maintain. Thus this food is very costly.
The long term effects of this genetically modified food is yet to be proven. This is because the
transgenic modification’s effects; we still don’t know. Therefore, organic food is better
sustainable for both long and short term. In addition to this limited use of genetic modification
can accelerate the quest of finding food for future generations.
We can conclude that organic food is better sustainable as:
1. It has no side effects on health
2. It is cheap
3. It is easily available
4. It has least environmental impact
5. It lets the farm land retain most of its nutrients
6. It is proved to be very healthy as it has low number of toxins

19
The use of genetic modification should be limited as:
1. It may have dangerous side effects on health
2. The genetically modified plant’s seeds sometimes cross pollinate or self-pollinate. This
results in seeds which may have side effects
3. Its cost is high
Transgenic modification should be avoided. Even if the genetic modification is done it should be
done by transferring DNA of one kind of plant or animal into another plant or plant or animal, it
should be done by putting it into the same type of animal of different species. As organic
farming is more important, it should be done in more percentage. This will help us produce
more, store more efficiently and waste less. And then we will have more than enough food for
all of us.

20
6 References
i. www.geneticliteracyproject.org
ii. www.who.int
iii. www.britannica.com
iv. healthresearchfunding.org
v. californiaagriculture.ucanr.org
vi. www.gmo-compass.org
vii. en.wikipedia.org
viii. hubpages.com
ix. www.mnn.com
x. http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org/
xi. http://www.nytimes.com/
xii. http://www.wri.org/

Tinkering with our future food

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Tinkering with our future food

Similar to Tinkering with our future food (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (10)

Tinkering with our future food