Sebastian Mansley

Genetic modification of food plants will have no benefits for mankind

Mankind's future is wrought with peril. Human population is predicted to reach 9.6 billion by 2050
(UN News Service Section, 2013). To cope with an increase in population coupled with a predicted
change to ~70% of people living in urban environments, food production needs to increase by 70%.
As only some of this increase can be through expansion of arable land, it's integral to pioneer new
ways to improve upon yield and ability to intensively farm (Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations, 2009). Though often feared by the media and the masses, genetically modified
(GM) plants provide a major way to tackle the issues of food security of the future and also dealing
with nutritional and economic problems of the present. GM plants are those that have had their
DNA altered through non-natural means such as the insertion of a different organism's gene. (WHO,
2014). Despite large numbers in opposition to GM crops, 9% of global arable land is used for them
the United States of America growing 93% modified corn and 94% soybeans for example (United
States Department of Agriculture, 2014). The crops produced are subject to extensive safety
evaluation however some feel that it is not stringent enough (Campbell et al., 2008). This essay will
explore the ways in which GM food plants have already played and will continue to play a vital role
, presenting a case as to why they benefit mankind.
Vitamin A deficiency is a scourge of the developing world, affecting 125-130 million children and 7
million pregnant women in less economically developed countries (LEDCs). In extreme cases it
leads to blindness, a threat to ~10% of the 5 million cases of suffers aged under 5 in LEDCs. (West
Jr., and Darnton-Hill, 2008). In order to tackle this issue in 2004 the first field trial of Golden Rice,
a type of rice engineered to produce -carotene (the inactive precursor that is turned into vitamin A
by the body), was completed after decades of work by Ingo Potrykus and Peter Bayer, among
others. Intended for distribution in the affected LEDCs, the aim of the crop was to be an alternative
to standard rice as a dominant crop in order to alleviate -carotene deficiency through addition to
the daily diet of the population (Golden Rice Project, 2014). Originally, though the intended
chemical was being produced in the crop, the concentration was too low to be of significance and
questions were raised as to if there was sufficient conversion to vitamin A in the body. Golden Rice
has been demonstrated to, at the least, be effective as a complement to other methods of -carotene
uptake. A case study in the Philippines showed that the benefits of Golden Rice's use would result in
a 16-88 million USD worth annual health improvement (Zimmermann and Qaim, 2004).
Furthermore the capability of children to convert the rice's content to vitamin A was researched in a
later paper after further improvements to the genetic modification to increase the concentration.
Golden Rice was compared to pure -carotene oil and spinach in order to assess the vitamin A
value for children. Over 35 days 68 children ages 6-8 were given controlled diets and blood samples
were taken for gas chromatography electron-capture negative chemical ionization mass
spectrometry for differently labelled retinol that had come from the different -carotene sources.
The study concluded that the rice was as effective as pure oil and superior to spinach in vitamin A
provision, with 50g dry weight (100-150g cooked) containing the -carotene for ~60% of a child's
vitamin A daily intake (as determined by the Chinese Recommended Nutrient Intake for 6-8 year
olds) (Tang et al., 2012).
In addition to improving the nutrition in LEDCs, GM crops allow for a more stable agriculture to
reduce the economic and yield impacts of vital crops that, if suffer poor harvest, can have
devastating results. In Africa especially, the cassava plant is an essential staple food source
desirable for having one of the highest carbohydrate yields per area cultivated of crop plants and its
ability to grow well in the mineral lacking soil and sparse rainfall of much of the continent (Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008). Unfortunately cassava is subject to the
action of the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease that can both

Sebastian Mansley
severely limit a harvest, 24% of total yield loss thought to be due to CMD in 2005. In order to
combat this and secure cassava's reliability as a staple crop, one that could prove influential in
dealing with a larger population through expanding farmed land, modification to bestow viral
resistance is underway. Transgenic cassava that expresses African cassava mosaic virus AC1homologous hairpin double-strand RNAs exist. These small RNAs acted as siRNAs and the plants
with a high siRNA accumulation were able to obtain a <10% infection rate while the wild type was
at >80% infection rate (Vanderschuren et al., 2009). Though this is merely one study, the Virus
Resistant Cassava for Africa initiative comprised of Monsato and the Danforth Plant Science
Center as well as a number of African institutions such as the International Institute for Tropical
Agriculture in Nigeria have been working for commercialisation since 2005. Field tests are
presently happening and Monsato has stated that the cassava strains produced will be as accessible
as the current strains for the local farmer populace (Monsato, 2014). Other examples such as floodtolerant rice and other disease resistant crops allow implementation of this approach to benefiting
humanity throughout the world.
Another way in which GM crops are important is in their capability to increase yield without an
increase in arable land. One way that is being investigated is through the alteration of crops to shift
from C3 photosynthesis (common in 98% of plants) to the more efficient C4 photosynthesis. The
International Rice Research Institute has been attempting to achieve this since 2008 (van Kote,
2014). One possible way of doing this would be through the alteration of Rubisco in one plant to be
replaced by a superior variant from a different organism, such as thermophilic red algae. This
proves troublesome, however, due to Rubisco formation requiring nucleus and chloroplast genetic
input as well as transport and assembly within the cell in higher plants (Leegood, 2013).
Even without drastic alterations such as the route of photosynthesis, more prevalent changes such as
herbicide and insect resistance. In a meta analysis of 147 studies it was found that GM technology
adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased
farmer profits by 68%. Furthermore it was seen that insect resistance had greater yield gains than
herbicide tolerance for modified crops, suggesting that GM crops could lead to a decrease in
pesticide reliance (Klmper and Qaim, 2014). One example of insect resistance is that of Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) insecticidal proteins being expressed in corn. Initially commercialised in 1996, it
has been a surprise that in 2005 there had still been no reports of insect resistance outside of
laboratory conditions as was expected. After further study it was suggested that the delay in
resistance arising was due to the (non-ideal) strategies the crops implemented such as the expression
of a combination of toxins with different binding sites (to prevent cross-resistance) combined with
high expression to ensure the death of all but the very rare insects able to withstand both (Bates et
al., 2005).
One criticism of GM crops is claims that the ingestion of Roundup herbicide and Roundup-tolerant
maize products can lead to cancer as well as major kidney and liver damage after a two year study
on mice. The involved researchers used this to claim that the lack of longer term study on GM crop
health effects was negligent however the paper was met with severe criticism, the original
publication retracted without their consent and then republished elsewhere a year later (Sralini et
al., 2014). While the media widely spread the results the criticisms of the findings are numerous.
Firstly the decision of Sralini to use the herbicide administered directly into the drinking water of
the rats did not take into account the environmental factors of the herbicide's distribution such as
soil adsorption or environmental stability. Also the type of laboratory rat used, Sprague-Dawley,
exhibits 45-80% spontaneous tumour expression as well as a lacking sample size for a study of the
kind they were conducting. These issues, as well as those unmentioned in this essay and the ways in
which the original paper was publicised, suggest that the paper was a success in politicising science

Sebastian Mansley
while being a failure at appropriately conducting it (Arj et al., 2013).
As a result of the lack of reasonable evidence for a direct negative effect of GM crops (though
biodiversity issues regarding monoculture were not addressed, a possible later arising issue) and the
overwhelming positive past, present and future impact of genetically modified plant crops, I see no
evidence that genetically modified crop plants are anything but beneficial for mankind.

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references): 1497
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Sebastian Mansley
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