WORLD HUNGER The chimera of Gmo I I

WORLD HUNGER “ The chimera of Gmo “ I. I. S. “ G. MARCONI” LATINA, ITALY 1

– Words from an Indian writer, “hunger witness”: “For hunger is a curious thing: at first it is with you all the time, waking and sleeping and in your dreams, and your belly cries out insistently and there is a pain as if your very vitals were being devoured and you must stop it at any cost… Then the pain is no longer sharp but dull, and this too is with you always, so that you think of food many times a day and each time a terrible sickness assails you, and because you know this you try to avoid the thought, but you cannot, it is with you. 2

– Words from an Indian writer, “hunger witness”: “Then that too is gone, all pain, all desire, only a great emptiness is left, like the sky… and it is now that the strength drains from your limbs and you try to rise and you cannot, or to swallow and your throat is powerless and both the swallow and the effort of retaining the liquid tax you to the uttermost” 3

Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people Henry Kissinger (1970) 4

For a start ……… World hunger comes tragically out from people’s poverty, wars, lack of farming land, degradation at various levels, including the environmental one. • But it is not true that food is not enough to fulfil world requirements: at most food supply isn’t equally distributed, and only small quantities reach the Countries of the Third World. • In opposition to a common opinion influenced by an illusory and speculative campaign, OGM production is not a solution for that problem: scientific studies increase doubts on transgenic products, whose quantity and quality characteristics are still to be tested. 5

HUNGER IN THE WORLD: still too many the undernourished. The most recent survey by FAO shows a meaningful negative trend, slightly improving just in the last months of the last decade. In 2009, in fact, for the first time in human history the number 1. 020 million was recorded, that is around 1 billion people are undernourished all over the world so far - Number of people who suffer from hunger in the world (in millions) 6

WHICH COUNTRIES SUFFER FROM HUNGER? The increase in the number of undernourished people has grown a global problem. As a matter of fact, regions all over the world have been affected by the rise of food insecurity 7

SOME NUMBERS - Asia and Pacific 642 million undernourished people - Africa Sub Sahariana has the highest percentage of malnutrition in relation to its population (32%) - The Middle East and North Africa +13. 5 % - Latin America and the Caribbean +12. 8%. - Even in developed countries malnutrition has grown an increasing concern . 8

Hunger in the world : - it is not caused by famine or other unruled causes - it is not the consequence of a poor food supply. Last 2009 FAO report indicates a good cereal world production, higher than in 2008 9

THE CAUSES Its main causes can be summed up as follows: - structural famine - permanent shortage of food and adequate nutrition - economic underdevelopment - democratic deficit - insufficient productive capacity and infrastructure Just a single word : ” POVERTY ” 10

The causes of the recent global food crisis are: - chronic - contingent Chronic causes: - Scarce economic resources - Inadequate agricultural resources - Subsistence farming, poor and without technology - Agriculture market in the form of monoculture (coffee, sugar, cocoa etc) for export to the West but not required for normal daily diet - Demographic rate very high 11

Contingent causes v Conversion of many cultures of soybean and corn against biofuels (especially biodiesel) and consequent reduction of their availability for food v Sharp increase in consumption of meat (especially India and China), with expansion and increased use of livestock feed v Rising cost of fuel and fertilizer v Troubled speculation (investment funds moved to the area of food) v Lower incomes and persistence of high food prices in domestic markets. 12

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THE FOOD SITUATION in various areas of the world has deteriorated due to: - reduced availability of food - decrease in income - price increases in domestic markets 14

FOOD STUFF • mostly made of GRAIN but also LEGUMES • They are important not only for humans but also for animals (soya and maize) • The basic ones are: CORN, RICE, SOY, WHEAT 15

REDUCTION IN INCOME The global economic crisis has led to lower income, less employment opportunities for the poors and has significantly reduced their access to food 16

The price increase: q is a consequence of an increased demand a decreased availability of food q it occurred despite the global crop has grown in recent years q it is sometimes followed by unexpected declines independent from productive inputs 17

GMOs against HUNGER Propaganda • GMOs would favour a dramatic increase in food stuff production Different opinions • World production of food stuff is not insufficient though really wrongly distributed. We can claim that capitalist Countries are affected by a heavy agricultural overproduction, which is one of the causes of the present crisis 18

GMOs against HUNGER Propaganda New technologies (Genetic Engineering ) “provide” Extraordinary performance with a smaller amount of fertilizers and insect powder, in less space and with less water Different opinions • • This is still to be proved Not all the transgenic cultures on the market at the present: produce more - they do not require less chemical fertilizers - they lower the use of fertilizers just in a few cases - they don’t need less quantity of water 19

GMOs against HUNGER Propaganda q Transgenic food and plants are absolutely safe. Different opinions q At the present no macroscopic effect has been proved about the negative consequences on human health in long terms. Even though recent studies on rats fed with soy have put in evidence histological 20 changes.

A LESS OPTIMISTIC VIEW • The increase in malnutrition is not a consequence of low global food supply. The increased production is the result of numerous factors such as: • climate, water availability, soil quality but also the financial ability to purchase seeds and fertilizers and the ability of farmers We should then not “produce more” though “produce better“ 21

CONCLUSIONS From the scientific point of view GMOs may be one of many options. They are not the answer to the problem of world hunger. 22

What to do…. § abolish the use of food to produce bio-diesel § In industrialized countries reduce consumption of meat in the diet to avoid the constant increase in slaughter cattle with subsequent use of food as feed § Develop the agricultural research systems of integrated management of cultures, based on energy saving and reduce the use of agrochemicals and water Supervise speculation § § Favour the growth of self-centered agricultural economies that meet the needs and local necessities Invest on projects that provide access to water and energy, introducing not too sophisticated equipment and technology, promoting indigenous research. 23

GMO Legislation The European legislation rules: • the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment • the marketing of food and feed produced from GMOs or derivatives • labeling and traceability of GMOs 24

Nowadays in ITALY The current law: Act Jan, 28 2005, n. 5 "Into law, with amendments, Decree-Law of 22 November 2004, No. 279, adopting urgent measures to ensure coexistence between forms of transgenic agriculture, conventional and organic farming" published in the Official Gazette No. 22 of 28 January 2005 In Italy you cannot cultivate for commercial purposes any of the GM plants approved in Europe, until they are adopted, by regions, the coexistence plans setting the technical rules to achieve coexistence between conventional and modified crops. Those who do not respect the ban will be arrested by six months to three years or fined up to 100 million euros plus the administrative penalty from 15 to 90 million 25

GMO and Italian Science • At the present, experiments on genetically modified plants are not being made. • In Italy, however, experiments have been carried out since the 80's and have affected many species traditionally "biotech": • corn, tomatoes, beets, kiwi, olive, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, grapevine, melon and aubergine. 26

GE-free Italian regions 27

What do Italians think about GMO ? Against GMO : § politicians § agricultural organizations § organizations connected to organic farming § members of the luxury dining, great chefs § supermarket chains • environmental organizations: Greenpeace, WWF, Legambiente 28

v PRO Well-Known scientists support OGM: Rita Levi-Montalcini, Renato Dulbecco Carlo Rubbia Umberto Veronesi Margherita Hack, Edoardo Boncinelli Tullio Regge Piergio Oddifreddi and many others. 29

What do consumers think? Recent statistics show the majority of Italian citizens, about three out of four, do not look favorably on GMO food “ GM products are less healthy than conventional ones. ” strongly agree tend to agree Agree Disagree Totally disagree No idea 2007 26 31 57 20 9 14 source Coldiretti SWG, october 2009 2008 26 35 61 16 7 16 2009 23 40 63 17 4 16 30

What do consumers think? Trend in time of the attitude towards the GMO products Trend in time of the ones who “ strongly or tend to agree about the fact that the Gmo products are rather unhealthy source Coldiretti SWG, october 2009 31

An Italian Poem Hunger in the World Thousands are the people who die in the world, Moans of hunger You can hear it everywhere Their bodies lie Worn-out to earth, Undernourished mothers, No milk anymore, Their bodies, human larvas Man, why don’t you see ? Man, why don’t you hate? Man, why don’t you love? by Dario Ciccalè (Translated by Emy, 2 nd form Scientific Technological Lyceum “G. Marconi”- Latina, Italy) 32

Thank you for your attention. 2 nd form “A” Scientific Technological Lyceum and 2 nd form “E” technical Institute for Computing Science 33