In fact, GM foods are already very much a part of our lives. They were first put on the market in 1996. A third of the corn and more than half the cotton grown in the US last year was the product of biotechnology, according to the Department of Agriculture. More than 65 million acres of genetically modified crops will be planted in the US this year. The genetic genie is out of the bottle.

　　However, like any new product entering the food chain, GM foods must be subjected to careful testing. In wealthy countries, the debate about biotech is not so fierce by the fact that they have a large number of foods to choose from, and a supply that goes beyond the needs. In developing countries desperate to feed fast-growing and under fed populations, the matter is simpler and much more urgent: do the benefits of biotech outweigh the risks?

　　The statistics on population growth and hunger are disturbing. Last year the world’s population reached 6 billion. The UN states that nearly 800 million people around the world are unhealthy. About 400 million women of childbearing age don’t have enough iron, which means their babies are exposed to various birth defeats. As many as 100 million children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, a leading cause of blindness.

　　How can biotech help? Genetic engineering is widely used to produce plants and animals with better nutritional values. Biotechnologists have developed genetically modified rice and they are working on other kinds of nutritionally improved crops. Biotech can also improve farming productivity in places where food shortage are caused by crop damage attributable to drought, poor soil and crop viruses.

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