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Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture (2000) / Chapter Skim
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The Need for GM Technology in Agriculture
Pages 3-6

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From page 3...
... Malnutrition plays a significant role in half of the nearly 12 million deaths each year of children under five in developing countries (UNICEF 1998~. In addition to lack of food, deficiencies in micro-nutrients (especially vitamin A, iodine and iron)
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From page 4...
... This work, carried out largely in publicly supported research institutions, has resulted in our present high-yielding crop varieties. A good example of such selective breeding was the introduction of "dwarf" genes into rice and wheat, which in conjunction with fertilizer applications, dramatically increased the yield of traditional food crops in the Indian sub-continent, China and elsewhere.
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From page 5...
... Modern agriculture has increased production of food, but it has also introduced large-scale use of pesticides and fertilizers that are expensive and can potentially affect human health or damage the ecosystem. A major challenge faced by humankind today is how to increase world food production ancr people's access to food, which requires local and employmentintensive staples production, without further depleting nonrenewable resources and causing environmental damage.
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From page 6...
... The benefits from transgenic plants under study include increased flexibility in crop management, decreased dependency on chemical insecticides and soil disturbance, enhanced yields, easier harvesting and higher proportions of the crop available for trading. For the consumer this should lead to decreased cost of food and higher nutritive value.
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Key Terms

  • transgenic plants
  • developing world
  • plant breeding
  • transgenic plant
  • traditional breeding

  • decreased recently
  • dramatically increased
  • expanding world
  • technology range
  • nonrenewable resources

  • yield increase
  • world population
  • traditional food
  • supported research
  • chemical insecticides

  • addressing malnutrition
  • mind regional
  • causing environmental
  • aims selectively
  • decreased dependency

  • include increased
  • malnutrition plays
  • improve human
  • increased flexibility
  • selective breeding

  • challenge faced
  • provide access
  • major challenge
  • past successes
  • require substantial


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