NPR, GMO And Round Up and Cancer

NPR, GMO And Round Up and Cancer

Q1. NPR Podcast

Part A- Speaker’s Professional Expertise

Joel Bourne has the needed professional expertise to warrant his discussion regarding food shortage, the underlying causes, and the probable solutions to end this problem before it becomes a global menace (Bourne (2015)). Bourne has a degree in agronomy, which is a field that’s relevant to the topic of discussion. He is a contributing author and reporter with national geographic and related science magazines. Joel Bourne reports that while working with National Geographic, Joel accumulated a total of 20 years’ experience starting from the year 2000. During this period, he reports have written articles covering news and researched areas relating to;

1. Wetland loss in Louisiana.
2. The 2007-2008 global food crisis.
3. Issues of climate change.
4. The 2003 heatwave calamity that killed 73000 and left large masses of wheatland scorched.
5. The worst US drought that cost the country over $30 billion (Bourne, 2015).

Therefore, Joel Bourne is experienced and has the expertise needed to talk about food shortage and its relation to the global population.

Part B: Green Revolution?

The Green Revolution is the leap in agriculture that saw the adoption of new technologies, better breeds, and varieties that eventually led to a massive increase in global food production levels. Examples of these breeds include the dwarf rice and white wheat. The revolution led to the growth of cities and industrializations around the globe. In Bourne’s (2015) ’s explanation, the green revolution ensured subsidized pricing of food so that people with low income could afford food and leave a few coins to spend elsewhere. The cycled eventually alleviated poverty and powered economic growth. However, Bourne (2015) explains that the green revolution has failed to sustain food production in the 21st century because of a yield cap that saw to it that no further surprise yields were possible given the constraints of water, land availability, and fertility. This phenomenon occurred at the dawn of 2000, ushering in a new century just as the father of Green Revolution Norman Borlaug had predicted 30 years earlier. Norman Borlaug was a distinguished Professor of International Agriculture at Texas A&M University and thus his connection to Texas.

Part C: Major Points, Challenges and Solutions

Bourne (2015) highlights several critical points, challenges, and solutions. Examples include;

• Key Points
• The trends in population growth are alarming and present a threat of global food shortage by the end of this century.
• There is a severe need for rapid food production for the growing global populations.
• There are opportunities for the global population to adopt organic plants that will help increase crop yield directly.
• Climate change and natural calamities pose a severe threat to global crop productivity.
• Challenges 

1. World consumerism has led to bad decisions such as running projects on arable land for producing ethanol for our cars and industries instead of crop production. These non-crop production projects take up 8-12 percent of all productive land left to non-crop yielding.
2. Climate change leads to natural calamities such as droughts, heatwaves, floods that threaten future crop yield levels.

• Uncontrollable population growth such that population grows exponentially while food production increases arithmetically, leading to a threat known as Malthusian catastrophe.

1. The world population is increasing at an alarming speed that current product yield levels cannot possibly compensate. For instance, Bourne (2015) explains that the world needs to produce as much food as it has ever produced since the start of agriculture 10,000 years ago, which is practically impossible.

• Solutions 

1. Adopt organic crops that will earn farmers more money for the same amount of inputs.
2. Focus on increasing yields while using fewer inputs to ensure minimal land, air, and water pollution.
3. Bourne (2015) recommends the adoption of widespread sea farming instead of being “hunters and gatherers in fishing” to compensate for global dietary needs.
4. Use modern technologies to maximize efficiency in irrigation. This action would help minimize water usage and hence water pollution.

Given these recommendations by Bourne (2015), it is reasonable to conclude that his book is optimistic.

Question Two

Part A: Glyphosate

Glyphosate is a globally used herbicide. Monsanto, a global agrochemical giant is the manufacturer of this commonly used herbicide also known as Round Up. Glyphosate is used to kill grasses, weeds and broadleaf plants hence its popularity among farmers around the world. Round Up is suitable for controlling these weeds, grasses and unwanted broadleaf plants for a wide variety of food crops, vegetables, fruits in aquatic areas, greenhouses, forest plantings and even road side farming areas (Chemical Safety Facts, n.d.). Due to its wide applicability, it has become the cornerstone herbicide for farmers.

Part B: IARC-International Agency for Research on Cancer

IARC declared round up as a probable human carcinogen followed a comprehensive study of farmers using the herbicide on their farms. The findings are contradictory and independent researchers disagree on a number of fronts. On one front, researchers found no connection between glyphosate and increased risk of cancer. On the other front, researchers showed that farmers who used glyphosate were at a high risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma- a type of cancer (Cressey, 2015). IARC is a credible source because it is the certified and recognized cancer research arm of the WHO (Cressey, 2015). The researchers of the IARC are commissioned to track data on organophosphates, such as glyphosate, and publish reports of their findings so as to help fight global diseases such as Cancer (Cressey, 2015). IARC is independent and under no influence by external companies that might have a manipulation on the published reports. The independent mode of operation ensures that the published information is not biased or skewed to favor either Monsanto-the manufacturer- or Monsanto’s competitors. The primary goal is to protect consumers from harmful products that might heart their health. Thus, IARC is a credible source for publishing reports of this sort.

Part C: Meaning of Probable Carcinogen

Probable Carcinogen means one that has a significant potential to cause cancer among human beings. IARC categorizes these probable carcinogen agents as Group 2A carcinogens. Examples of the Group 2A carcinogens include glyphosate, nitrogen mustard, glycidol among other chemical compounds (Cressey, 2015). In the categorization, IARC examines agents that pose a risk of promoting carcinogenesis which is the process of formation of cancerous cells. However, this classification is not yet conclusive regarding the carcinogenicity of glyphosate and hence no need to take immediate steps to curb its production, distribution or usage (Cressey, 2015). Nevertheless, it is important to increase regulatory measures to ensure that the product meets WHO recommended safety, production and distribution standards.

Part D: Round Up Ban in France

In January of 2019, a court ruling in France led to the banning of the herbicide (Euractiv, 2019). The court ruling was based on the rationale that the safety regulators had raised a red flag about the product’s safety standards (Euractiv, 2019). These concerns convinced the jury that the herbicide was not fit for household sale. In the USA, similar studies should be conducted and a lawsuit filed in the case where results for carcinogenesis test returns positive. Despite glyphosate’s importance in agriculture, human life is much more precious and the cost of treating cancer is far much higher than that of adopting alternative non-carcinogenic herbicides. However, I do not support a ban in USA without prior evidence-based research.

Question Three

Part A. God and GMO

According to Omobowale, Singer and Daar (2009) religion plays a critical role in shaping the world’s population acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods. According to these authors, the dominant argument among Christians, Muslims and Judaists is that by modifying the genome of these food crops, human beings are playing God. For this reason, the use practice of genetic modification is faced with moral and ethical concerns from religious persons. Omobowale, Singer and Daar (2009) argue that it is important to also look at this issue from an atheist perspective. The key argument is that an atheist who has no affiliation to religion has no problem with the genetic modification practice. Omobowale, Singer and Daar (2009) also note that the media, research reports and global campaigns for GM foods is also easing the rigid beliefs and hence helping Christians, Muslims and Judaism followers find a common ground with atheists on the need for GM foods to feed the rapidly increasing global population. From a critical point of view, there is nothing wrong with adopting GM crops with an aim of feeding the growing earth’s population. From a religious point of view, such an activity is geared to preserve life and human life is precious to God. Thus, for as much as religion views GM crops as human’s attempt to play God, GM is also a way of humanity trying to fulfill its mandate by God and that is to preserve the world and everything in it. Therefore, the best way to find a consensus is to help religious people, atheist, governments and individuals understand that GM goes beyond our differences in religion and gives a solution for continuity of humanity-preserving the precious human life at the light of looming food shortage as Joel Bourne explained in part one above. Preservation of human life and everything precious in the world is something that God, religious persons, atheists, governments and individuals can agree on.

Part B: GMO Labelling

Labelling of GMO foods is very important at the moment given the widespread disagreement in religion and science regarding the safety of the products to human beings. Labelling is critical because every person needs to know that the product, he or she is consuming is genetically modified. With this information, it is easier for the person to make a decision at the light of information available to him or her regarding the ethical dilemmas revolving around the product as well as potential health risks that come along with these products.

The sources used here are credible because they are either peer-reviewed or have a disclaimer for what is known, what is not-yet known and where evidence is not conclusive. Thus, there is no element of bias in the information. Information used in this discussion is also retrieved from renown and trusted databases such as WHO and the IARC. These databases publish data that follow a set level of standards and hence information published is credible.

Part C: Personal Faith Commitment

Regarding this question, my faith commitment has a role in shaping my view of the issue. My faith- as a Christian- allows me to view human beings as important creatures created in the image of God. The creator was very keen in giving responsibilities to everything he created and human beings received the responsibility to take care of himself and everything that God created. If at this point the population has grown enough to warrant the use of GM crops to compensate for the high food demand, then I view that as an intelligent move to protect what God has created and not a man’s attempt to play God.

References

Bourne, J. (2015). As global population grows, is the earth reaching the ‘The End of Plenty?’ Retrieved from As Global Population Grows, Is The Earth Reaching The ‘End Of Plenty’?

Chemical Safety Facts Org. (n.d.). Glyphosate. Chemical Safety Facts. Retrieved from https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/glyphosate/

Cressey, D. (2015). Widely used herbicide linked to cancer. International Weekly Journal of Science, 1(1), 1. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/news/widely-used-herbicide-linked-to-cancer-1.17181

Euractiv, (2019). France takes RoundUp Weed Killer off market after court ruling. Retrieved from https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/france-takes-roundup-weed-killer-off-market-after-court-ruling/

Omobowale, E. B., Singer, P. A., & Daar, A. S. (2009). The three main monotheistic religions and gm food technology: an overview of perspectives. BMC international health and human rights, 9(1), 18.