In 2010-2012, one in eight (870 million of 7.1 billion) people were suffering from chronic undernourishment.
The worlds children have it the worst - poorly nourished children suffer up to 160 days of illness per year. Furthermore, five of the eleven MILLION deaths per year are due to malnutrition. Vitamin A, iron, and iodine deficiencies cause blindness, anemia, or mental health disorders in one out of three people in developing countries. Thankfully, these grim realities can be successfully combated with genetically modified foods.
Citation 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5
A GRIM REALITY
SOLUTIONS
Nutritionally Enhanced Crops
Citation 6.9
​The tweaking of a crop to boost its nutritious value is one application of genetic engineering that does not receive the recognition it deserves. As detailed above, malnutrition is a grave and lethal problem that is oftentimes underestimated. The obvious solution to the problem is to distribute nutrient rich food to those in need. With biotechnology, we can create improved plants that are rich in nearly every nutrient. The Golden Rice Project is one leader in the field.
Vaccine-producing Crops
More than 3 million people die from vaccine preventable diseases each year. In part, this is due to a lack of a viable way to administer medicine to the masses in the third world countries. The advantages of using GM goods to complete the task is that they are easily grown, readily available, and do not require syringes. Traditional ways of transporting medicine to third world countries require cautious and careful regulation of temperature and other conditions - this can be avoided with GM crops.
Citation 6.6, 6.11
Insect and Herbicide Resistant, High-yield crops
Citation 6.7, 6.10
The two most useful qualities of genetically modified foods for farmers are insect and herbicide resistance. The former method works by modifying the crop to naturally produce toxins that are harmful only to certain pests, while the latter allows crops to better protect themselves from the harmful effects of herbicides. Insect resistant cotton in India has yielded, on average, 50% more cotton. It is important to note that there is no evidence linking the toxins used to any side effects in the human body.
Nitrogen Use Efficient Crops
The tightest bottleneck of plant growth is nitrogen; plants are extremely sensitive to a lack of nitrogen in the soil. For this reason, nitrogen-based fertilizers were created. Unfortunately, fertilizers are coupled with unseen consequences. Only fifty percent of fertilizer is absorbed into the soil - the other fifty percent either runs off into our water supply or transforms into an intensely potent greenhouse gas. Organizations such as Arcadia Biosciences claim to be able to reduce the required nitrogen of plants by up to 50%.
Citation 6.8, 6.12