By 2050, the world.s population is projected to rise to 9 billion from just over 7 billion currently. Proponents of genetically modified foods say they are safe and can boost harvests even in bad conditions by protecting against pests, weeds and drought. This, they argue, will be essential to meeting the needs of a booming population in decades to come and avoiding starvation. However, Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist for the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group, said genetic engineering for insect resistance has provided only a modest increase in yields since the 1990s and drought-resistant strains have only modestly reduced losses from drought. Moreover, he said conventional crossbreeding or cross-pollinating of different varieties for desirable traits, along with improved farming, is getting better results, boosting yields at a lower cost. In fact, much of the food Americans eat has been genetically modified by those conventional methods over thousands of years, before genetic engineering came into practice. “Overall, genetic engineering does not get nearly the bang for the buck as conventional breeding and improve agricultural practices,” Gurian-Sherman said. His organization advises caution on GM foods and favors labeling, though it acknowledges the risks of genetic engineering have sometimes been exaggerated. Andrea Roberto Sonnino, chief of research at the U.N. food agency, said total food production at present is enough to feed the entire global population. The problem is uneven distribution, leaving 870 million suffering from hunger. He said world food production will need to increase by 60 percent to meet the demands of 9 billion by 2050. This must be achieved by increasing yields, he added, because there is little room to expand cultivated land used for agriculture. Genetically modified foods, in some instances, can help if the individual product has been assessed as safe, he said. “It.s an opportunity that we cannot just miss.”
1-1、Para. 1 mentions that the risks of genetic engineering are not that horrible.
A、√
B、×
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