November Aff

8/10/2019 November Aff

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Aff Case

On balance, the benefits of genetically modified foods outweigh the harms.

Definitions:

Genetically Modified Foods: (GMOs) can be defined as organisms in which the

genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating

and/or natural recombination.

Framework:

The long-term benefits of GMOs should always outweigh short-term costs, because

long-term benefits affect a greater number of people over a longer period of time.

Thus if at the end of the round Pro establishes a long term benefit, and con

demonstrates a short term cost, you should prefer the long-term benefit.

Contention One: GMO’s are the only feasible way to solve the growing population’s food crisis.

A. As humans used technology in the form of skyscrapers to satisfy their housing needs, we

need to turn to technology in the form of GMO’s to satisfy our food needs. Creating

plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and

groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places. Food

production uses a significant quantity of arable land and natural resources, and GMOs

hold promise to alleviate this burden on the Earth. The efficiency of land use is a

significant issue: by 2050, the global population is expected to rise above 9 billion, and

the existing amount of arable land is expected to decrease significantly due to

anthropogenic climate change and urbanization (Food and Agriculture Organization of

the United Nations)



B. GM crops have been grown commercially since 1996. Since then, the area planted with

GM crops has increased over 100 fold from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to around 175.2

million hectares worldwide in 2013 (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-

biotech Applications). The projected population expansion and rise of food consumption

per person in China and India makes efficient land use essential to food security in the

next 100 years. Biotechnology firms claim that transgenic crops promise more food with

less land. GMO crops have been found to increase yields, with a 10 percent change to a

genetically modified herbicide tolerant crop (Bt crops) yielding a roughly 1.7 percent

increase in productivity (USDA).

As the population of the world inevitably rises, GM crops are the most ready solution to

preventing long-term and wide-spread famine due to their efficiency and promise.

Contention Two: Implementation of GMO crops is actually beneficial for the environment and

individual health

A. Use of GMO plants increases yields and decreases the need for pesticide use, thereby

preventing significant ecological damage. GM pesticide-producing crops are engineered

to produce Bt toxins, a crystal protein naturally synthesized by the bacterium bacillus

thuringiensis. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has found that these

toxins do not activate in the human gut, and pose no risk to human health (EPA).

Herbicide-resistant crops are engineered to be resistant to glyphosate, an herbicide with

relatively low toxicity levels, which allows for the spraying of glyphosate on crops to kill

weeds. An example of such a plant is the Roundup Ready soybean produced by

Monsanto, and the EPA has labeled glyphosate with a “low toxicity” rating (EPA).



B. The European corn borer, a widespread crop pest, claims 7 percent of the world's corn

supply each year. Use of Bt corn has saved US farmers in Iowa and Nebraska alone up to

1.7 billion dollars in fighting this pest over the past 14 years, when compared to non-Bt

variants (University of Nebraska, Department of Entomology). Along with increasing

yields, Bt crops also decrease pesticide usage. Some estimates indicate that if “50% of

maize, rape seed, sugar beet, and cotton grown in the EU were GM varieties, pesticide in

the EU/year would decrease by 14.5 million kg of formulated product”, and “there would

be a reduction of 7.5 million hectares sprayed, which would save 20.5 million liters of

diesel and result in a reduction of approximately 73,000 tons of carbon dioxide being

released into the atmosphere” (Crop Life International).

Contrary to many popular yet ill-advised beliefs, many prominent GMO’s benefit the

environment while also posing no real harm to human diet. It is for this and the above

reasons that my partner and I offer the affirmative ballot.

Thank you

Documents

November Aff