With a growing population many people believe that we should focus on producing more GM foods. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of doing this?

Many people argue that we need to think about developing more genetically modified (

GM

) foods in order to keep up with the needs of an ever-increasing population. Overall,

this

proposition is a sound one, but it is not without its problems. In

this

essay I will show how using

GM

technology to ‘grow’

meat

will solve issues of space and cost. I will

also

discuss the negative impact of losing traditional jobs and food.

GM

,

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or genetically modified, farming is usually associated with fruit and vegetable production, but

GM

could

also

be used to grow lab-based

meat

replacements.

Meat

farmed from animals

such

as pigs, cows and sheep

is

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very expensive to produce in terms of land and water use, as well as the financial costs of keeping the stock healthy. Growing demand for

meat

from an increasing population is not going to be environmentally sustainable, so genetically modified alternatives could be used to satisfy the needs of the expanding customer base in a way that does not threaten the environmental balance. Animal husbandry could still exist, but rather than being an industry that uses over a

third

of the world’s resources in order to provide

meat

, it will be an artisanal one focusing on quality rather than quantity. While it may be environmentally advantageous to use

GM

to replace most of the world’s

meat

production, there will be some disadvantages. The main problem will be the disappearance of traditional industries. Despite modern developments in agricultural practices, the basic pattern of raising, killing and eating animals has remained more or less unchanged over the centuries. Using

GM

to create substitute foodstuff products is going to have a significant impact on the farming industries and the ways that ordinary people celebrate with food.

For instance

, turkeys at Christmas, lamb at Passover and beef at Eid might become a thing of the past, and we might all be celebrating with tofu

instead

. In conclusion, the rapid growth of the human population means that drastic measures must be taken. While we might lose some traditional occupations, and food might become a much more expensive, and less frequently consumed source of protein, the use of

GM

to replace animal farming is the price we have to pay in order to keep living on

this

planet