Frankenfoods !

It seems that nothing stirs the ire of some people more than the term " Genetically Modified " ( GM ).   In America and Australia it comprises four fifths of all the processed foods we buy, but sixty-four world countries - including the EU - either totally ban it or require labelling to indicate any GM content.   Many regard that as a warning " not to buy " - and that is about to have repercussions on the world food supply.

Rice is the main food staple for much of the developing world and in Asia it is mainly grown in the deltas of the great rivers such as the Mekong, Brahmaputra and the Irrawaddy.  In the 1950-64 era the paddy fields were producing about 1.9 tonnes per hectare and farmers started to try to increase yield by applying fertilizer.
Unfortunately, this tended to make the rice grow taller and the stem could not support the weighted head - and much of the crop was lost.   The water level in paddy fields was also critical - and swings in the Monsoon often caused floods - and crop loss.
Some clever scientists managed to modify the rice plant to create a " dwarf " variety, which had a thicker stem and a panicle which contained many more rice grains - and this breed could survive flooding and recuperate when the water level fell.   It was immediately planted throughout the world and harvests increased to 3.5 tonnes per hectare in 1985-98.

The world rice crop is facing a new threat.   Global warming and the consequent rise in sea levels is causing storms and wind surges to flood the paddy fields of the deltas with salty water - and this improved rice plant can not tolerate a rising salt level.   The International Rice Research Institute ( IRRI ) has used GM to develop a new rice strain that thrives in brackish water and in a world with an ever increasing population it seems the answer to maintaining food security.

Unfortunately, the fact that it is a GM product seems certain to run headlong into marketing difficulties in an increasing number of countries.   There is growing pressure to legislate to force food labelling to include GM information and this will aid the vocal minority agitating to convince people that GM is harmful to promote resistance to it's sale in grocery stores.    This is despite the scientific world conducting testing in all areas of GM food production and giving it an absolute clear bill of health on safety grounds.

The statisticians tell us that for each one billion of increase in population on planet earth we will require an annual harvest increase of one hundred million tonnes of rice to feed them.   We are presently above the seven billion mark - and it is predicted that we will see ten billion calling earth home by about mid century.

Unless we can get rice to tolerate saltier paddy fields, a lot of the present farming land is going to be lost to production - and it seems that the only way that can be rectified is by using GM to produce the right plant to do the job.    We are already seeing diseases such as Polio reestablishing themselves because of spurious opposition to the vaccinations that had almost wiped them out on a world basis - as happened with Smallpox.

This senseless opposition to GM foods - which opponents refer to as " Frankenfoods " -  has the capacity to bring on a world famine unless the food industry is allowed to meet our needs.     The world health people estimate that at present about 3,100,000 people die each year because of malnutrition.   The death toll from GM foods - stands at 0.

A compelling argument !