Modern use of biotechnology in food security: Issues and challenges

Many factors combine together to affect the health of individuals and communities. Whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment. To a large extent, factors such as where we live, the state of our environment, genetics, our income and education level, and our relationships with friends and family all have considerable impacts on health, whereas the more commonly considered factors such as access and use of health care services often have less of an impact. The subject of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and agriculture is highly controversial. Although, genetic modification is generally seen as a tool offering potential benefits to farmers and consumers in a wide range of food and agriculture areas, there is concern about the potential impacts on human health and on the environment. Human health issues have been raised because GMOs can be a direct source of food (by eating a GM plant, animal or fish) or an indirect source, where ingredients in processed foods may be GM (e.g. soybeans are widely used in processed foods, including margarine, biscuits and sausages) or where domestic animals or fish, eaten by humans, may be raised on GM feed. The importance of biotechnology in food security and its disadvantages also has been discussed in this paper.