Genetic Modification: A Potential Revolution to Address Global Challenges in Food Security, Healthcare, and Climate Change

By 2050, the world is estimated to have more than 9 billion individual to feed. The food and health care demand will be sixty percent greater compared to modern days (Béné et al., 2015). To address these challenges, the UN came up with some measures and goals to achieve food security and end hunger which is known as the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, to address these challenges, the agricultural sectors must be more productive by adopting efficient business models and reduce water use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste (Costanza et al., 2016). The health sector also needs to be more aggressive to achieve set standards. Plant genetic modification are plants whose genome material has been modified via genetic modification to introduce new genes that do not naturally occur in the organism. On the other hand, the health sector is experiencing great resistance to drugs, and the need for more vaccines. The environment on the other hand is experiencing global warming. Therefore, with the above knowledge, it is critical to address genetic modification and how it will change the world.

The world health organization revealed that more than 820 million people as of 2018, did not have enough to eat in 2018 therefore, increasing food production through crop genetic modification can change the world. This includes developing crops that are disease resistant and production of more nutritious foods. These kinds of food production are advantageous since it assists to increase food production and improve farmer’s income. Studies indicate that most farmers are still using traditional methods of farming to process and plant foods hence, scientific interventions can help increase production (Urch et al., 2019). Most pesticides used in agriculture are a source of environmental pollution and even results to various health disorders such as cancer, this means that developing disease-resistant crops can reduce insecticide and pesticide at the time of farming and this would be a great move to better food supply and safe environment as per Urch et al., (2019), hence being a great idea to change the world in terms of food security.

Sachs (2019) suggests that the world health organization estimate that, Non-communicable diseases, like cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases are responsible for over 70% of all deaths globally, this means that, modifying organisms to achieve better treatments can be of great importance. Studies suggest that genetically modified organisms have emerged to be very important to the health sector since the 1980s (Kerry et al., 2018). For instance, modified organism such as animal models have helped study human disorders and have enabled scholars to test various developed therapies. Additionally, genetically modified microbes have been critical in the development of pharmaceuticals by enabling the creation of cheaper and safer therapeutics and vaccines. Edible vaccines have also been produced, thanks to genetically modified organisms. Therefore, for better health care, genetic modification of organisms is very critical. Therefore, this is another way to change the world.

Another challenge that the world is experiencing is global warming which has been revealed to cause adverse effects such as the monsoons in Asia and increased droughts, cyclones, and unpredictable weather around the world. However genetic modification can alleviate this problem (Kaur et al., 2013). Genetically modified plants have been revealed to sequester several billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere which has helped reduce global warming to some extent. These plants increase the plants' ability to absorb scattered sunlight thus making them absorb more carbon and utilize it to make food. Moreover, scholars are now researching on Alcanivorax borkumensis, which is a bacteria which eat petroleum product which is a great move to solve petroleum spillage pollution (Kadri et al., 2018).

However, since genetically engineered foods are a new practice, there is little knowledge about its long term effects and safety. Additionally, there have been many issues in health care that have all been associated with the consumption of GMO foods which is a hotly debated subject. Some of the challenges associated with genetic modification in food, health, and environment include allergic reaction, cancer, increased antibacterial resistance and increased risk of mixing of genes from indigenous crops and GMO crops (Ribeiro et al., 2016).

To conclude, by 2050, the world is estimated to have more than 9 billion people to feed and maintain their health care. Additionally, climate change is becoming a great challenge to the world. Changing the world by addressing these challenges can be a great deal. To change the world, the use of genetic modification to boost food security, solve climate challenges and improve health is a great idea. However, the application of genetic modification can be a great danger to humanity since it has been linked to cancer, increased antibiotic resistance and allergic reactions.

References

Béné, C., Barange, M., Subasinghe, R., Pinstrup-Andersen, P., Merino, G., Hemre, G.I. and Williams, M., 2015. Feeding 9 billion by 2050–Putting fish back on the menu. Food Security, 7(2), pp.261-274.

Costanza, R., Fioramonti, L. and Kubiszewski, I., 2016. The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the dynamics of well-being. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 14(2), pp.59-59.

Kadri, T., Magdouli, S., Rouissi, T. and Brar, S.K., 2018. Ex-situ biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons using Alcanivorax borkumensis enzymes. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 132, pp.279-287.

Kaur, A., Kohli, R.K. and Jaswal, P.S., 2013. Genetically modified crops and climate change linkages: An Indian perspective. Agricultural Sciences, 4(10), p.541.

Kerry, R.G., Patra, J.K., Gouda, S., Park, Y., Shin, H.S. and Das, G., 2018. Benefaction of probiotics for human health: A review. Journal of food and drug analysis, 26(3), pp.927-939.

Ribeiro, T.G., Barone, B. and Behrens, J.H., 2016. Genetically modified foods and their social representation. Food Research International, 84, pp.120-127.

Sachs, J.D., 2019. The urgent case for expanded development assistance for health. International health, 11(5), pp.321-323.

Urch, C.J., Jackson, V.E. And Muir, C.W., Globachem Nv, 2019. Agricultural Chemicals. U.S. Patent Application 16/465,222.

Obedience and Consequences of Disobedience

When I turned 16, I thought that I've grown up enough to stay out with my friends till late and can do whatever I want and my mum is just treating me like a child. One Friday evening, my friend had a birthday party and being pressured by peers, I decided to attend. During the party, all sorts of drinks and other drugs were available. Having no prior experience in drugs, I watched my friends cheer as they take whiskey, alcohol, bhang, and cocaine. I felt lonely and isolated in that group. However, I could not leave before dawn since it was dangerous to walk on the streets at night. I, therefore, made my mind and decided to take some little alcohol. By midnight, everyone was drunk and there was a lot of noise originating from my friend’s house. One of the irritated neighbors called the police and with no time, we were all arrested and evidence of drugs, alcohol, etc. was collected for preparation of our case. When I became sober, I could only cry after imagining how my parents would handle the issue and how it might cost then a lot of money. On Monday morning, all the parents of my friend and I were summoned by the police. At that time I felt very ashamed and sorry for my bad behavior. This paper explains my lessons in this experience.

From this experience, I learned that children must obey their parents since nature and commandments demand so. Choosing to respect and obey parents is revealed to be a demonstration that we love them (Burbank, 2016). Moreover, the holy bible suggests that, obeying parents assist in building a good relationship with the Lord (Exodus 21:15). Though studies reveal that, obeying parents is a very different thing to do at some times, disobedient especially to parents can result in fatal consequences (Burbank, 2016). Some of the reasons which are associated with parent's disobedience include an eagerness to have fun. Other studies have indicated that, nature demand that children obey their parents (Oros et al., 2017). Therefore, this supports the foundation for obeying parents.

Additionally, disobedience results in too many consequences and harm which might be very painful. In most cases, the most effective response to child disobedience as per the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry are consequences (Pascali et al., 2019). Consequences that directly relate to the disobedience phenomena and which are immediate are very effective in correcting some misbehavior. Some of these consequences include the use of timeout especially when a child disobeys. This might also include instance such as sitting the child in a chair for the same number of minutes as the age of the child among other actions. Another consequence includes fines. This is effective for children who have been receiving gifts. Fines for negative behavior might help a child realize that, for them to receive a gift, they have to have well. However, this is revealed not to work for some children especially those without any concept of how gifts or money works (Sege et al., 2018). Another consequence is the penalty. While using the behavioral chart with points, rating the child with positive reinforcement may motivate the child to improve behavior. On the other hand, removing points make the child change behavior.

I also learned that, obedience to parents as part of the norms and values of the community. As per the Obedience, in human behavior model, obedience refers to a social influence form where a person yields to instructions from an individual in authority. Based on various context, obedience is often referred to as immoral, amoral or moral. Since a long time ago, people obey when in presence of perceived authority figures. An experiment by Stanley Milgram. It was discovered that, obedience to authority was a norm and it was not an exception (Graham et al., 2018). Moreover, he discovered that Obedience is an element in the structure of social life. This indicates that obedience to an authoritative figure is very critical and embraced by society.

To conclude, obedience, especially to parents, is very crucial. From my experience, I learned that obedience is a command of nature and of holy teaching. Additionally, failure to obey patents can result in various consequences such as in my case being taken to the police station and having a civic case to answer. Moreover, obedience to parents is a norm and culture of the community hence very critical to a child.

References

Burbank, G.R., 2016. Obeying God and Honoring Parents: A Moral Dilemma?

Exodus 21:15. Holy Bible: King James Version.

Graham, J., Haidt, J., Motyl, M., Meindl, P., Iskiwitch, C. and Mooijman, M., 2018. Moral Foundations Theory. Atlas of Moral Psychology, p.211.

Oros, L.B., Iuorno, O. and Serppe, M., 2017. Child perfectionism and its relationship with personality, excessive parental demands, depressive symptoms and experience of positive emotions. The Spanish journal of psychology, 20.

Pascali, M., Matera, E., Craig, F., Torre, F.L., Giordano, P., Margari, F., Zagaria, G., Margari, M. and Margari, L., 2019. Cognitive, emotional, and behavioral profile in children and adolescents with chronic pain associated with rheumatic diseases: A case-control study. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry, 24(3), pp.433-445.

Sege, R.D., Siegel, B.S., Abuse, C.O.C. And Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child And Family Health, 2018. Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children. Pediatrics, 142(6), P.E20183112.

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