On balance, the benefits of GMO's outweigh the harms.

Thanks daltonian for accepting, I look forward to a great debate. I initially planned on making my constructive longer, but due to time constraints I will use my original case.C1: Gmo’s increase food production. The need for food is increasing and Gmo’s are the most practical solution. As explained Watson, extreme whether and increased need for food are expected in the next 20 to 50. GM crops, unlike organic foods are temperature and pest tolerant, making them more able to solve expected problems (1). Crops are not the only thing that can be genetically modified; fish production rises significantly through the use of Gmo’s. Menozzi explains that with population growth, the need for fish is likely to increase. GM salmon have potential to grow to a substantial size within close to half the time, making them a viable way meet environmental and economic needs (2). Countries suffering from drought benefit from the use of GM crops. Sanders shows that the “crop water productivity” or amount of water needed to successfully produce a healthy crop. Through the use of crops altered to need less water, the crop water productivity was increased by 20 to 40 percent (3). Additionally, Gmo’s have the potential to overcome are plant diseases. Such diseases (especially blight) destroy close to 15 percent of the world’s harvest. MIT’s Technology Review magazine notes that “GM foods have the potential to create varieties that are better able to withstand the onslaught such as blight resistant potatoes (4).” Increased food production provides numerous utilitarian benefits beyond simply reducing hunger. For impacts, look to environmental benefits, and the reduction of hunger within the developing world. Larger crop yields reduce pressure to clear more areas for farming. IFPRI notes, “This conversion of forested areas, driven by food insecurity, will continue over the next twenty years, particularly in Africa, unless farmers have alternative ways of meeting food needs (5).”Deforestation at this level can reduce biodiversity, disrupt water cycles, and increase erosion. Through the reduction of hunger that comes with increased crop yields, the problems that come with it will be decreased. Jooma explains, “11 million people in East Africa and the Horn of Africa are facing shortages owing to a drought… causing long term structural violence… and disease (6).” Thus, increased food production alone is enough to conclude that the benefits outweigh the harms, as people dealing with hunger and the problems that come with it as well as the environment are benefited. C2: Gmo’s have health benefits. The usage of pesticides and herbicides (chemicals designed for killing and/or impairing the growth of living organisms) directly harms humans. Such chemicals use can be reduced through the implementation of GMO’s. For example, "A study on smallholder farms in India shows that Bt cotton has reduced pesticide applications by 50%... Bt cotton now helps avoid several million cases of pesticide poisoning in India every year (7)," as noted by Thompson. This does not just apply to cotton. A study done by the USDA explains that GM crops reduce pesticide use by 2.5 million pounds. Glyphosate on HT crops is also significantly less toxic to humans than current herbicides. To further elaborate, the use of pesticides on crops has been reduced by almost 10% since 1996 largely due to the planting of genetically modified crops (8). Additionally, GM crops have shown capability to reduce vitamin deficiency. Thompson explains that golden rice, a GM crop, has shown enormous capability to reduce vitamin A deficiency, which currently causes blindness in over 250,000 children per year, particularly in the developing world (9). C3: Gmo’s reduce poverty in third world countries. As for economic benefits, due to this reduction of pesticide use on crops an estimated 7.5 Billion dollars was saved over a 9-year span, helping farmers save money. Higher crop yields make farmers significantly more money, as shown in Burkina Faso, “Yield increases of roughly 25% were achieved with Bt cotton, accompanied by reduced spraying costs of 66%. On average, the South African farmer’s income increased by $137 per hectare (10).” This happens because farmers use less farmland to grow more food, thus gaining profit from sales and efficient land use. To quantify this, a hectare is 10,000 square miles; globally, there are 4 billion hectares of farmland total, giving GM crops the potential to save 158 billion dollars if they followed Burkina Faso’s example. Such economic benefits will greatly help various countries in Africa. Orgodo explains that biotechnology will give African nations the potential to become a key player in the global economy, through the increased food production that comes with Gmo’s (12). In the end, “The use of GM crops has greatly outweighed the health risks, which so far remain theoretical… They have lowered the price of food, increased farmer safety (through the decreased use of pesticides), raised output of corn, cotton and soy, by up to 30 percent.” (Stewart)