Consumer benefits
GM crops have the potential to deliver a range of benefits to consumers through products which can:
- improve their health
- deliver high quality foods at an affordable price for all
- support farmers in developing countries
• GM technology can deliver health benefits for consumers in the UK as well as the developing world
GM crops have the potential to provide unique solutions to the serious health problems faced both by consumers in the UK as well as in developing countries. Some examples of products in development are detailed below.
- Apples that prevent tooth decay: apples that contain an edible vaccine that fights tooth decay are being developed by horticultural scientists in the UK, together with Guy’s Hospital, London. By inserting a gene that encodes for a protein that prevents the bacteria responsible for tooth decay, bacterial attack was prevented for a period of up to 80 days.
- Golden Rice: this is a form of rice containing high levels of provitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency is a common cause of blindness in children in developing countries; Golden Rice has the potential to contain over 20 times more Vitamin A than standard varieties.
- Caffeine-free coffee: Caffeine in coffee has a number of negative health effects including palpitations, anxiety, raised blood pressure and insomnia. However current decaffeination processes for coffee and tea also often remove flavour components resulting in an inferior tasting product. Through genetic modification, researchers in Glasgow have switched off the gene that encodes for caffeine production, enabling the production of full-flavoured caffeine drinks but with none of the negative health effects associated with caffeine consumption.
- Low trans fat vegetable oil: the oil profiles of many crops including soya and oilseed rape have been improved using plant biotechnology; introducing these traits into current GM crops means that the health benefits are combined with environmental benefits.
• Maintaining an affordable, sustainable food supply.
2007 has seen near record prices for maize, wheat and other agricultural commodities, caused by poor harvests due to variable weather conditions, the conversion of food-producing land to land for non-food (fuel) crops and rising consumption levels in countries like China.
The increasing global population and demand from fuel crops will continue to grow over the next decades meaning we need to get more produce from the remaining land available to grow food. GM crops can offer significant yield increases over conventional equivalents which would help achieve the necessary increases in agricultural production over the next 25 years and help maintain the affordability of essential foods.
• Enabling farmers in developing countries to earn a living
Farmers in developing countries grow crops both for consumption and to sell for money. All too often the hot climate and high disease and pest pressures make it difficult for their crops to survive and be sold on so that farmers can make a living. Conventional crop breeding has been successful but the current rate of improvement in yields has slowed considerably. GM technology has a real role to play in providing solutions to many of issues that resource-poor farmers have face.
Over 90% of the farmers growing GM crops last year were from developing countries. Many of these farmers are resource-poor growers with small plots of land whose lives can be significantly improved through being able to grow crops that offer a more reliable source of income. In these countries GM can make the difference between financial independence and poverty.
GM cotton in India
- Cotton is grown as a cash crop in India but farmers find that up to half their yields are lost to pests and diseases, most notably the bollworm. Currently, Indian farmers spray insecticides in attempt to control this pest before it penetrates the cotton boll.
- Scientists found a way of genetically modifying cotton (Bt cotton) to protect it from the bollworm, providing farmers with a higher yielding crop and consequently a more reliable source of income. After years of tests, GM cotton started to be grown commercially in 2002.
- An independent study from IMRB International published in 2007 found that of the total cotton growing area, Bt cotton plantings increased from 6.2 per cent in 2004/5 to 39 per cent in 2006/7. It also concluded that significant yield increases were associated with the use of Bt varieties of cotton, leading to a greater profit margin for the farmers and improved livelihood.
- Further details from the IMRB report can be found at the following link: http://www.bharattextile.com/newsitems/2002910