Question

Miracle Rice

Rice is staple food in Asia. In the 1950s, Asia faced food shortage and an impending famine. If you have relatives that lived in Asia during the ’50s and ’60s, they may tell you that due to the rice shortage, many starved and those who were lucky had to supplement their diet with other crops, such as barley.

In 1962, an organization focused on research and development of rice called International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) developed a high-yielding variety of rice by crossing the two types of rice from Indonesia and China. The result was ground breaking. The new variety called IR8 (India Rice 8) increased its yield as much as 10 times the traditional variety of rice.

By the early 1970s, many rice farmers in India, the Philippines, and Vietnam switched to cultivating IR8 rice, making these countries into major rice exporters, preventing a mass famine in Asia, and saving millions of lives.

1. Is the IR8 rice variety considered a genetically modified organism (GMO)? Why or Why not? Support your answer with research.

2. Although IR8 was widely cultivated in Asia in the ’70s, it is no longer produced in the 21st century. Identify one problems associated with mass cultivation of IR8 and explain its environmental impact.

3. Is it possible to consume non-GMO wheat, corn, canola, soy, sugar, or papaya in Canada? Choose one of the listed food items and discuss the impact of biotechnological research on its current availability in our country.

each question has to do with the miricle rice topic. this is all the information i was given. Some of the question requires research. please type answer do not take picture of answer.

Answer 1

1. The IR8 rice variety is considered a genetically modified organism as it was produced as a result of the crossing between the rice varieties of China and Indonesia by using biotechnology tools. In biotechnology, the gene of interest in genetic molecule of the selected varieties are extracted and inserted into the host organism thus called the Genetically modified organism.

2. IR8 is longer cultivated in the 21st century as it the demand is not much high and there is a fact that the Genetically modified organisms are not much resistant to the environmental conditions which are not in their favor or we can say that they can't withstand in such harsh or wild conditions. The lowering of price causes the great loss to the farmers also.

3. The non GMO wheat is consumable in Canada as they are the wild type variety of wheat and contains all the genes in conserved form and they are naturally resistant to the harsh environmental conditions. But these non GMO varieties are much costly as their production is low and thus less consumed. In our country, these non GMO varieties are being modified by the biotechnology tools to increase the yield and also conserving the gene of interests so that they can be available in low costs.