Seminar 7, 26/09/2010

The BioBusiness Revolution 2: Agriculture and the Environment: Past, Present, Future

As reiterated in class, BioBusiness is the commercial activity based on the understanding of life sciences and life science processes. BioBusiness employs some 40% of the world’s labour force and constitutes to about 25% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). From the figures, it is evident that BioBusiness is a drive of the economy, hence it is imperative for us to understand it and be part of this revolution in order to benefit from it.

This week’s session concentrated more on the food aspect of technology. Genetically modified (GM) food, in-vitro meat, Plumpy’Nut, genetically engineered (GE) papaya etc. These are some of the examples of food that technology has created. Several issues about GM food were raised. One of which included the labeling of GM food. The United States (US) is one of the countries that strongly opposes to labeling of GM food. As such, only 40% of people in the U.S. know that some of the foods they are buying and eating are genetically modified, according to a new survey conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC). Additionally nearly 1 out of 4 people incorrectly believes that such foods are not being sold in the US. I feel that this is very unfair to the consumers in the US because they have a right to know if the food they are consuming is genetically modified. Furthermore, some people might have certain food allergies and unlabelled GM food might cause them to consume this unknowingly, and thus may result in undesirable consequences.

Putting aside the issue of GM food labels, I think that GM food can be the answer to food security. In the least developing countries (LDCs), malnutrition is a common problem because the people there either do not have enough food or they rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. Rice does not contain the adequate amounts of nutrients necessary to prevent malnutrition. However, if rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, then the problem of malnutrition can be solved because the people can acquire the essential nutrients from this genetically engineered rice. This concept was also applied which led to the innovation of Plumpy’Nut, a ready to-use therapeutic food (RUFT) that helped to save the lives of many malnourished children in Africa. Each packet of Plumpy’Nut contains about 500 kilocalories and all the essential nutrients a growing child needs. This invention is indeed a life-saver as the parent does not need to prepare anything. All she needs to do is to give the child a packet of Plumpy’Nut and there, he is on his way to weight gain! Henceforth, GM food can be the solution to food security.
Another interesting invention brought up during this session was in-vitro meat, whereby the possibility of rearing the entire animal to obtain its meat, we can grow the parts we want. Sounds interesting? Imagine eating your favorite part of the chickens only (like wings, thigh) without having to care about the other parts. Although the idea of eating just my favourite parts only is enticing , I cannot envisage the idea of eating meat that is being grown artificially at the labs. Furthermore, in-vitro meat is too expensive for the average consumer – it costs USD $1 million per kilogram. Thus, I feel that it is impossible for us to accept the idea of lab meat now. Perhaps in the coming years, eating in-vitro meat might become a possibility.

Overall, I rate the session 8/10 because the presentations were really an eye-opener to the things that have been made possible via technology. Now, I can't fathom a world without technology would be like.