Summary

Progress continues in the fight against hunger, yet an unacceptably large number of people still lack the food they need for an active and healthy life. About 795 million people in the world still go to bed hungry every night, and an even greater number live in poverty. Poverty is the major driver of food insecurity. Improvements in agricultural productivity are necessary to increase rural household incomes and access to available food but are insufficient to ensure food security.

Food security is essentially built on four pillars: availability, access, utilization and stability. Women are crucial in the translation of the products of a vibrant agriculture sector into food and nutritional security for their households. They are often the farmers who cultivate food crops and produce commercial crops alongside the men in their households as a source of income.

Genetic engineering is the name for methods that scientists use to introduce new traits or characteristics to an organism. Advocates say that application of genetic engineering in agriculture has resulted in benefits to farmers, producers, and consumers. Critics advise that the risks for the introduction of a GMO into each new ecosystem need to be examined on a case-by-case basis, alongside appropriate risk management measures.

Review Questions

1. Which one of the following is not one of the four pillars of food security?

A. Availability

B. Access

C. Utilization

D. Transformation

E. Stability

2. Which one of the following statements is false regarding selective breeding?

A. It results in genetic changes in the offspring

B. It is anthropogenic

C. Is reliant upon modern, lab-based methods

D. It can produce new traits over time

E. It was responsible for creating many common crops, such as maize (corn)

3. The US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with other organizations such as the American Medical Association, have determined that GE crops…

A. Are safe to consume

B. Likely pose a risk to human health

C. Pose a serious risk to human health

D. Should be banned

E. Have not been scientifically studied and therefore they cannot make any recommendations.

4. Which one of the following regions has obesity rates that are lower than rates of undernourishment?

A. Middle East and North Africa

B. Latin America and Caribbean

C. Europe and Central Asia

D. South Asia

5. Potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco were are developed by humans many thousands of years ago by the genetic modification of wild nightshade species. Specifically, these crops were developed using…

A. Selective breeding

B. Horizontal gene transfer

C. Epigenetics

D. Natural selection

E. Anthropogenesis

See Appendix for answers

Attributions

Bora, S., Ceccacci, I., Delgado, C. & Townsend, R. (2011). Food security and conflict. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11719. Available under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC BY 3.0).  Modified from original.

CK12. (2015). Food and nutrients. Accessed August 31, 2015 at  http://www.ck12.org/user:a3F1aWNrQHdlYmIub3Jn/section/Food-and-Nutrients/. Available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. (CC BY-NC 3.0). Modified from original.

Godheja, J. (2013). Impact of GMO’S on environment and human health. Recent Research In Science And Technology, 5(5). Retrieved from http://recent-science.com/index.php/rrst/article/view/17028. Available under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC BY 3.0). Modified from original.

Maghari, B. M., & Ardekani, A. M. (2011). Genetically Modified Foods and Social Concerns. Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology, 3(3), 109–117.

World Bank; Food and Agriculture Organization; International Fund for Agricultural Development. (2009). Gender in agriculture sourcebook. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/6603. Available under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC BY 3.0).  Modified from original.

World Bank Group. (2015). Ending poverty and hunger by 2030: An agenda for the global food system. Washington, DC. © World Bank. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/21771. Available under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 IGO (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Modified from original.

Page attribution: Essentials of Environmental Science by Kamala Doršner is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Modified from the original by Matthew R. Fisher and Joni Baumgarten.

“Review Questions” is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by Matthew R. Fisher.