Biotechnology & third world

Farid khan
Asst.Prof
Dept. chemical
 involvement

• Third world organisations are seeking to

improve the living conditions of poor people
in developing countries. Their main interest in
biotechnology is in the impact of genetically
modified crops on the world food supply and
small-scale agriculture in developing
countries.

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 general viewpoint

• Third world organisations do not believe that

biotechnology will solve the problem of
hunger in the world. They believe that small-
scale, sustainable programmes, tailored to
local conditions, will prove to be a better way
of alleviating the food shortage in developing
countries than genetically modified crops.

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 ethical aspects

• Most of the third world organisations'

objections to the way in which some
companies deal with biotechnology
applications are ethical. The organisations are
concerned, for instance, that the image of
poor, hungry people in developing countries is
being misused in order to promote public
acceptance of biotechnology.

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 genetic modification
• Third world organisations are not in favour of
genetic modification of animals.
• Third world organisations are not in favour of
genetic modification of plants because it will
not improve the living conditions of poor
people in developing countries.
• Third world organisations have not expressed
a unanimous opinion on genetic modification
of microorganisms.

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 Applications

• agriculture and food:Third world

organizations believe that genetically
modified crops will make very little
contribution in the long term to increasing the
world food supply or improving agricultural
crop yields in developing countries.

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• Healthcare:Third world organisations have
not expressed a unanimous opinion on the
impact of biotechnology on healthcare in
developing countries.
• industry and environmental technology:
Third world organisations have not taken a
stance on biotechnology applications relating
to industry or the environment.

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 • food safety: Third world organisations object
to selling food containing genetically modified
ingredients. They believe that these products
have too many disadvantages and risks and
that the long-term effects on public health
have not been sufficiently studied. They
mention the following risks:

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 • resistance to antibiotics: Scientists use what
are referred to as 'helper genes' when
engineering genetically modified crops. These
create resistance to certain antibiotics. This
resistance might cross over to certain
pathogenic (i.e. disease-causing)
microorganisms, thus making them more
difficult to fight.

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 • food allergies: New proteins can enter our
bodies via genetically modified organisms.
These might cause food allergies.
• toxic substances: Genetically modified crops
might produce new substances that are
detrimental to our health

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 • environmental safety: Third world
organisations think that growing genetically
modified crops involves too many risks for the
environment and agriculture. They believe
that the long-term risks are not sufficiently 
known. They mention the following risks:

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• Biodiversity: Genetic traits inserted into crops
or animals may upset the balance of nature.
Genetically modified plants or animals might,
for instance, oust their wild relatives.
Moreover, an insecticide that has been built
into a plant to protect it from harmful insects
might also be lethal to useful insects. The
unintentional result might be the
disappearance of a species and a consequent
decline in biodiversity.

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• pollination by genetically modified crops:
• Pollen of genetically modified crops may be
carried by the wind and pollinate weeds and
crops in the fields of neighbouring farmers.
The risk is that the new traits will be passed
on unintentionally (crossing over). This might
cause 'genetic pollution'.

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• threats to ecological farming: Wind-blown pollen
may introduce a gene from a genetically modified
crop plant into the crop of an organic farmer,
who will then no longer be able to sell this crop
as 'gentech-free'.
• Superweeds:Wind-blown pollen may introduce a
gene from a genetically modified crop plant into
the crop of an organic farmer, who will then no
longer be able to sell this crop as 'gentech-free'.

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• dependence on pesticides and herbicides:
Farmers can spray genetically modified crops that are
resistant to a certain herbicide with unlimited amounts
of that herbicide, without the plants dying. Farmers
might, therefore, spray more than needed to keep
their fields free of weeds. Third world organisations
are concerned that herbicide use may consequently
increase rather than decrease. In addition, third world
organisations think that we should be striving for
sustainable agriculture, with minimal use of herbicides.
Genetically modified crops, however, make farmers
dependent on these chemical compounds.

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 • Resistance: Large-scale use of herbicides will
in the long term make weeds resistant to
these herbicides. Insects could develop
resistance to genetically modified plants with
built-in insecticides in the same way. Both
developments are bad news for farmers. They
will have to find new herbicides and pesticides
because the traditional ones will no longer be
effective.

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 • freedom of choice: Third world organisations
are concerned that consumers will not be able
to buy products that do not contain
genetically modified material. Consumers will
then have no choice.

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 • world food supply : Third world organisations do
not believe that biotechnology will solve the
problem of hunger in the world. There is
sufficient food available in the world to feed the
world's population, but it is not distributed
equally and fairly. Biotechnology is not the right
way to increase world food supplies. Instead of
applying high-tech technologies, third world
organisations advocate improving local
productivity through sustainable agricultural
programmes that are tailored to local conditions.

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 patents and the position of industry

• Third world organisations do not approve of patents

being granted on genetically modified organisms.
Companies should not be permitted to become owners
of plants and animals because nobody can own nature.
• Third world organisations believe that companies have
too much influence on the development of new crops.
They believe that companies will not make much effort
to develop crops that are adapted to local conditions
in developing countries. The potential markets will
simply be too small and expected profits too low.

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 patents and the position of industry

• Farmers who grow genetically modified crops

have to buy new seed from seed producers every
year. They are not permitted to set aside seed for
the following year. Farmers also buy the
herbicides and pesticides needed for spraying the
crops from the very same seed producers. Third
world organisations disapprove of this double
dependency on the grounds that it will give
companies too much influence on agriculture and
food supplies. Moreover, only large farmers can
afford to buy these expensive seeds.

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 • economic interests: Third world organisations
believe that developments in biotechnology
are driven by economic motives.
Biotechnology companies want to make
money from biotechnology applications.
According to third world organisations, many
companies take advantage of the image of
poor, hungry people in the developing
countries in order to get their products
accepted by the public.

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