Final Paper Annotated Bibliography

Final Paper Annotated Bibliography

Bharathan, Geeta, et al. "Crop Biotechnology and Developing Countries." Bioethics for Scientists. Eds. John Bryant, Linda Baggot LaVelle and John Searle. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, 2002. 171-198. Print.

This chapter starts off by referring to food security and how we will be able to meet the world’s growing food needs. It then transitions into the use of biotechnology with food and the different reasons it should or should not be used. The green revolution is mentioned here as an example of how biotechnology has proved to be beneficial in the past and similar advancement can be made to address future food problems. There are some specific examples involving nutrition deficiency statistics and how GM intervention can help save millions of deaths per year. Mainly this chapter deals with the use of biotechnology in less developed countries and the various effects on health it will have.

Falk, Michael C., et al. "Food Biotechnology: Benefits and Concerns." Journal of Nutrition. 132.6 (2002): 1384-1390. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.

This article, as the name implies, talks about the benefits and concerns of agricultural foods. It addresses that these foods have shown clear benefits for the producers, giving traits such as greater yields, longer shelf life, and decreasing the use of insecticides and herbicides, and has also shown benefits for consumers through producing food with higher nutritional content, better looks and tastes, and medicinal properties. It also talks about the process of modified food having to go through four different federal regulatory agencies to ensure the foods safety and to make sure it has minimal risk to the environment.

Fedoroff, Nina V. "Engineering food for all." New York Times 19 Aug. 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.

This article starts off by explaining how food prices have increased along with the world’s population and that we have been able to make great strides in food production thanks to science and technology, but these advancements must be further developed in order to produce enough food to sustain the growing population. Federoff claims that genetically modified foods can do this and that this technology is constantly improved and has been shown to have a long track record of safety and that millions of dollars have gone into testing the safety of these foods. She restates that there are many concerns for the safety of these foods, but that the concerns have not held up to scientific scrutiny, and that all these unexpected consequences and effects have still not yet been revealed.

Ferber, Dan. "GM Crops in the Cross Hairs." Science. 286.5445 (1999): 1662-1666. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.

This article highlights some of the key points in the debate on GM foods and was interesting and informative. It includes many quotes and statistics from researchers around the country, both who are for and against GM foods. Some of the issues discussed include antibiotic resistance, effects on human health, allergenicity, crossing of traits to non-GM crops. It also gives some facts on how some GM crops did well, while others did not, and the reasons why. Explains some of the health benefits of GM foods and how their effects differ from developed countries to developing countries. Finally the article sums of with an overview of the various agencies that regulate the testing and distribution of GM crops and their methods.

Hassan, Tina A. "GMO Debate - FG Still Lags Behind [analysis]." Daily Trust [Abuja] 8 Nov 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.

This article addresses one of the major concerns of GM foods which is whether they are safe or not. Specifically, some African countries have made it illegal to grow and even use GM foods because of this health skepticism. Studies from the USDA have shown that these foods, which according to their use for the past few years, have shown no adverse health effects and are safe to use. Even with this assurance from the USDA, GM foods are still met with high resistance in certain African countries. 

Hughes, Steve, and John Bryant. "GM Crops and Food: a Scientific Perspective." Bioethics for Scientists. Eds. John Bryant, Linda Baggot LaVelle and John Searle. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, 2002. 115-140. Print.

This chapter talks about the theory behind how GM foods came to be, how modification of plants to yield desirable characteristics is something that has been done for tens of thousands of years, but now modification is done slightly differently by using molecular tools. These new tools allow for an even wider variety of crops and can be made to produce traits that wouldn’t found in crops using traditional methods. Also addresses other concerns about GM crops such as ethical, contamination, and safety issues. 

Kahare, Peter. "Drought Persuades Govt to Import GM Maize." Africa News Service [Nairobi] 11 Aug. 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.

This article relates to the other article in regards to the resistance to the use of GM foods in African countries because of their unknown possible negative health effects. Kenya however, has made a controversial move, in relation to other African countries, and allows the import of GM foods. Even though they are still skeptical about the possible health effects, experiencing a drought and having 2.5 million people in urgent need of food has convinced the Kenyan government to accept help, even in the form of GM foods.

Lurquin, Paul F. High Tech Harvest: Understanding Genetically Modified Food Plants. Boulder: Westview Press, 2002. Print.

This book covers the introduction of biotechnology to food, how it has been used so far and possible uses for it in the future. It shows links between the food produced and its effects on human health. It also adds to information from some of my other sources in relation to the green revolution and GM foods with enhanced nutrient qualities to help address issues of malnutrition. This book covers a wide range of topics related to agricultural biotechnology, but I mainly focused on the sections related to the effects these products and technologies would have on human health.

Mattoo, Autar K. "Genetic Engineering to Enhance Crop-Based Phytonutrients (Nutraceuticals) to Alleviate Diet-Related Diseases." Bio-Farms for Nutraceuticals: Functional Food and Safety Control by Biosensors. Eds. Maria Teresa Giardi, Giuseppina Rea, and Bruno Berra. Dordrecht: Landes Bioscience and Springer Science Business Media LLC., 2010. 122-138. Web. 7 Apr. 2012.

This chapter starts off by explaining how many studies have proven that a large number of age and lifestyle related diseases that affect the population today can be associated with their diets. Increasing the public’s awareness of how consumption of certain foods can be harmful to their health has led to many consumers becoming more conscious of their food choices and helping them get healthier. Even though this is a step in the right direction, many people still aren’t meeting their recommended daily allowance (RDA) of certain key nutrients that ensure their health. This has triggered research into nutraceuticals and the molecular engineering of crops to express more of these beneficial nutrients that promote human health. Increasing beneficial molecules while removing some that are harmful, through the use of molecular modification, can help reduce the incidence of food-related diseases.

Nottingham, Steve. Eat Your Genes: How genetically modified food is entering our diet. London: Zed Books Ltd, 1998. Print.

This book explains in detail many of the different topics related to agricultural biotechnology. It starts out by explaining the origins of how genetic engineering started to be used in agriculture, and then continues to explain in detail the various ways crops can be scientifically modified. Addition topics that are covered include how crops increase yield, how crops become insecticide and herbicide resistance and its advantages and possible negative effects, development of antibiotic resistance, allergies, ecological risks, risks to human health, and ethical issues. It also describes impacts GM foods have on the third world, government-related issues such as patenting, labeling, and regulation, and future prospects for agricultural biotechnology.

Scapagnini, Giovanni. "Therapeutic Potential of Dietary Polyphenols against Brain Ageing and Neurodegenerative Disorders." Bio-Farms for Nutraceuticals: Functional Food and Safety Control by Biosensors. Eds. Maria Teresa Giardi, Giuseppina Rea, and Bruno Berra. Dordrecht: Landes Bioscience and Springer Science Business Media LLC., 2010. 27-32. Web. 7 Apr. 2012.

This chapter deals with a specific type of nutrient found in foods known as phenols and polyphenols and their link to human health. It gives some stats about how as the life expectancy increases, so does the rate of age-related diseases. One of the major diseases that is on the rise, now being the fifth leading cause of death in people over the age of 65 is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Studies have shown that cultures and diets rich in this type of nutrient have shown lower numbers of people with this disease and how harnessing this nutrient can help others receive the same disease avoiding benefits.

Sharma, Monika, and Bhumika Sood. "A banana or a syringe: journey to edible vaccines." World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. 27.3 (2011): 471-477. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.

This article introduced the concept of edible vaccines, why they would be useful some of the more technical details on their development and use. Some of these specifics include what plants could be used to make these vaccines, the different molecular techniques that can be used, how these edible vaccines would interact with the human immune system, advantages of these vaccines, clinical uses, and future possibilities. The article highlighted many positive aspects of the technology, but also gave many details that would need to be addressed before such a possibility would be ready for human use.

Ticciati, Laura, and Robin Ticciati. Genetically Engineered Foods: Are They Safe? You Decide.. Los Angeles: Keats Publishing, 1998. Print.

This books seems to provide somewhat of a biased view on scientifically modified food by explaining in great detail all the possible risks and concerns these foods pose, while not really addressing many of the benefits or results of testing and research. It asks a lot of rhetorical questions without giving many balanced answers. This book is, however, printed in 1998, which I would like to attribute to the lack of accurate and balanced information in this book; however I don’t think that would be accurate either because another book I used printed in the same year goes into great detail on both the positive and negative aspects of this technology and food. It does however summarize many concerns people against GM foods would have and their reasoning behind it, but it mainly concentrates on that side of the argument.

Wahle, Klaus W.J. "Plant Phenolics in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer." Bio-Farms for Nutraceuticals: Functional Food and Safety Control by Biosensors. Eds. Maria Teresa Giardi, Giuseppina Rea, and Bruno Berra. Dordrecht: Landes Bioscience and Springer Science Business Media LLC., 2010. 36-48. Web. 7 Apr. 2012.

Similar to the other cited chapter from this book, this chapter deals with a different nutrient found in food, but instead of reducing the risk of age related problems such as AD, these nutrients have the potential to not only get rid of existing cancer cells, but to even prevent them in the first place. This is, however a potential benefit and there is still much research to be done, but the possibility is there. These nutrients are naturally found in many foods, and if their concentration could be increased or other foods could be enhanced to produce the same nutrients, then the health benefits would be even greater.