Agricultural Genetic Engineering A Vital...

Agricultural Genetic Engineering; A Vital Biotechnological Tool Fascinating times we are currently living in. A rapid, consistently growing population creating gross demands for food is pushing our resources to capacity. Fulfilling the needs of the world s population is a monumental task. Limited arable land to cultivate and an ever changing climate has led to environmental degradation. At this rate of exponential human population growth, it is predicted to reach 9 billion people by 2050, however, â€Å"it is uncertain whether current agricultural practices will be able to feed the world† at that stage of growth. In the 1970s pioneering biotechnologies began paving the way to providing solutions to supply the world s food demands,†¦show more content†¦I am going to discuss whether this economically driven movement is going to bring larger scale issues in the future based on our current world agriculture status and predicted forecast, taking into account are these strategies socially, economically, and ethically feasible? Intensive GE efforts have been made to help protect crops from insects to improve their yield and quality. The majority of the world s crops are protected against the most significant insect pests. Natural resistance is the combination of complex factors of inherent genes and ecological resistance that have evolved over many years of plants being exposed to pests. However, thoroughbred crops are often grown in artificial environments that become susceptible to pest infestation. Moreover, often modern high intensive growth practices actually foster pest proliferation. Coincidentally by using chemical controls for insect pests has created a selection pressure for development of resistant insect populations but, in turn, has also reduced the populations of insect predators of pest species. At present natural mechanisms for plant resistance to insects is still an area that needs to be further understood. Currently, insect resistant crops have been developed through simplistic methods by producing transgenic plants with single genes encoding endotoxins of Bacillus thuringiensis. â€Å"Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insect resistant crops are one of the most astounding