This Administration is strongly committed to finding ways for modern biotechnology to help fight hunger and poverty. There will be an estimated 7.67 billion people by the year 2020. It will be necessary to almost double the production of food by this time. The increase in production must be achieved under sustainable cultivation conditions.
Modern biotechnology is part of the answer.
Modern biotechnology can be used to fight the many scourges that accompany malnutrition around the world, including illness, blindness, developmental problems and death. Some have questioned the need for such products, arguing that poor people need balanced diets, not vitamin-enriched rice. But we should not let the perfect become the enemy of the good. Sadly, access to balanced diets is limited in many countries by poverty, food distribution problems and other complex and entrenched social conditions. Staple foods such as rice may be the only foods available.