Role of genetically modified (GM) foods in emerging markets

Welcome to class of
Role of Genetically-Modified (GM) Foods
in Emerging Markets
by
Dr. Satyendra Singh
University of Winnipeg
Canada
www.uwinnipeg.ca/~ssingh5



What are GM Foods?
• Crops created for human/animal consumption
using the molecular biology technique to get
desired traits such as:


Role of GM Foods in EMs
• Very important for developing countries/EMs
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By 2050pop. 9b  food strategy for next 20 yrs
Need more food, as such hunger and starvation
3m deaths/year in Africa solely relating to hunger
3 options: aid/food, money/funds, provide GM foods
• GM foods: Rapid, accurate,↑ yield, ↓labor, ↑shelf-life

GM Birds/Animals

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Disease cure vs designer babies

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Advantages of GM Foods…
• Pest resistance
– Crop loss due to insets  financial loss to farmers
– So, farmers use tons of pesticides/fertilizers annually
– GM eliminates pesticides and thus ↓ cost of production

• Disease resistance
– Viruses, fungi, bacteria  plant diseases
– GM crops resistance to these diseases

• Cold resistance
– Frost can destroy sensitive seedlings
– Antifreeze gene from cold fish  tobacco and potatoes


Advantages of GM Foods
• Drought resistance
– More population  ↑ land for housing, ↓ land for farming
– Land unsuited for plant cultivation  Africa, dessert

– GM crops  grow in draughts or ↑ salt-content soil

• Nutrition
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Single crop (rice) cannot give all the nutrition needed
Lack vitamin A  blindness  common in EMs
GM food: golden rice has Vitamin A (beta-carotene)
GM food: with enhanced iron is underway, Europe?

• Pharmaceuticals
– Edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes
– Easier to ship, store, administer than traditional injections


Criticism of GM Organism/Foods…


Criticism of GM Organism/Foods


Criticism of GM Foods…
• Environmental hazards
– Unintended harm to other organism
• Difficult to design toxin  kills crop-damaging pests, not other
insects

– Reduced effectiveness of pesticides
• Develops resistance  DDT

– Gene transfer to non-target species
• Cross-breeding
• Transfer of herbicide resistance from crops to weeds
• The “superweeds” will then have herbicide tolerance as well

• Solution
– Create buffer zone

• Enviro pigs  they do not produce phosphates!


Criticism of GM Foods…
• Human health risks
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Allergenicity
We already have allergies to peanuts and other foods…
Introducing gene may create more allergies
Unknown effects on human health
However, proposal to introduce a gene from Brazil nuts
into Soyabeans was abandoned

• On the whole, with the exception of possible

allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods do
not present a risk to human health!


Criticism of GM Foods
• Economic concerns
– Lengthy and costly process
– May be patented
• Monsanto, Novartis, Dow, DuPont hold patents for GM crops
• Make substantial profit by exporting it to EMs

– Farmers from developing countries/EM cannot afford
– More gap between rich and poor

• Other invention  discouraged/stopped
– Suicide gene technology
• Only one growing per season
• Next time would produce sterile seeds that do not germinate


Governments and GM Foods…

2009: 25 countries


Governments and GM Foods
• Europe: Anti-GM protests (Austria, France, Hungary)
• Japan: GM testing is mandatory. Customers for organic
• USA: FDA  GM foods are substantially equivalent to
natural food, so not subject to FDA regulations

– GRAS  Generally Recognized As Safe

• India: No policy yet  for GM  ↓ poverty
• Brazil: Some states have banned GM crops
– ↑Smuggle to compete with grain-exporting countries
• Africa: EU opposes the use of GM in Africa
– S. Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe have GM laws; Kenya Act  2009

• Argentina: Very pro-GM
• New Zealand: NO GM Foods grown here!


GM Food Labeling
• No need to label  same wrt to nutrition
• Europe and Japan  Mandatory
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1% contamination of unmodified products with GM foods
Consumers have the right the know the information
Let consumers decide  but no choice
Reduced sales, so processors do not sell GM foods
EU has disguised policy of protectionism

• Canada and US  Voluntary
– Mandatory for Non-GM foods
– Let consumers decide  more choices

Traditional International Entry Mode Strategy


Multi-Mode international Entry Strategy for GM Crops