b'COULD SPANISH STUDY END PUBLIC GMO ARGUMENTS?THE PUBLIC IS SLOWLY MOVING TOWARDS TRUSTING THE SCIENCE BEHIND GMOS.BY: ALLY RODENS cientists in Spain might have found a way to convince the public that GM products are not only safe for human and animal consumption, but bring economic, environmen-tal and health benefits, according to their risk-benefit analysis results from MDPI.The analysis established public acceptance of GM cropsIF YOU WANT TO REDUCE boils down to two main factors: one, the belief that GMOs areGREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS ineffective and two, emotional concerns. The group says limited data of long-term effects from consuming GM crops, paired withIN AGRICULTURE, AN the potential of toxicity, allergies and gene transfer make some people hesitant to accept GMOs are safe. IMPORTANT TOOL TO DO THAT Despite the ongoing skepticism associated with genetically modified crops, the Spanish study found that the public is slowlyIS WITH GMO TRAITS.moving towards trusting the science behind GMOs.While the topic of GMOs can be a polarizing, malnutrition still rings in as one of the leading factors for negative health consequences and death across the world.HOW ARE GMOS BENEFICIAL TO A GROWING POPULATION WITH INCREASING FOOD SHORTAGES? WHAT WOULD LIFE WITHOUT GMOS LOOK LIKE?The world population is predicted to reach 9.8 billion by 2050,Increased prices and a rapidly declining environment are just a says The World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision pub- couple of the realities of a world without GMOs, according to a lished by the United Nations Department of Economic and Socialstudy completed by professionals in agricultural economics at Affairs. Purdue University.Two billion people are deficient in at least one micronutri- Some of the same groups that oppose GMOs want to reduce ent, nearly 820 million people are starving per year and 26.4greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the potential for global per cent of the population are affected by some degree of foodwarming, explains Wally Tyner, an agriculture professor at insecurity, according to a recent United Nations report. Purdue University. The result we get is that you cant have it Spanish scientists believe their analysis proves that onlyboth ways. If you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in molecular biology approaches and genetic engineering tools areagriculture, an important tool to do that is with GMO traits.realistic food shortage solutions for the worlds ever-growingData gathered on 18 million farmers across 28 countries population. that planted around 181 million hectares of GMO crops was put GM crops have been proven to produce a higher crop yieldthrough Purdues GTAP BIO model. Tyner and his colleagues at without additional land, lower farm costs, increase farm profitsPurdue University found that eliminating the GMO crops would and manufacture a greater abundance of nutritious food saysdecrease corn yields by 11.2 per cent, soybeans 5.2 percent and The International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotechcotton 18.6 per cent.Applications (ISAAA) in a question-and-answer session. If in the future we ban GMOs at the global scale, we lose lots GMOs have also helped decrease insecticide use and lowerof potential yield, states Farzad Taheripour, a research associate greenhouse emissions, resulting in economic advantages acrossprofessor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. If more the globe. countries adopt GMOs, their yields will be much higher. EUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 41'