ipl-logo

The Influence Of Science Policy On UK Food Security

812 Words4 Pages

Science policy has been defined by the Royal Society of Biology as “the combination of scientific expertise with knowledge and understanding of government and policy making, decision making and scrutiny processes to ensure that legislation and policy have a sound evidence base” (Royal Society of Biology, 2017). This definition identifies the broad spectrum of topics that are encapsulated under the title of science policy and shows there is almost no limit to the scope that science policy incorporates to some degree. Science policy is undertaken by research councils; policy makers direct a research council to focus on a specific topic and the research council portrays the science in a way that is clear and unbiased for all policy makers. This …show more content…

Food security was defined in 1996 at the World Food Summit as “when all people, at all time, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, 1996). Food security relies on interplay from several sectors as the UK is not a self-sufficient producer of food, depending heavily on imported food and therefore international relations and economics. The relevance of food security is worldwide, every single person is affected by the availability of food, and therefore would be affected by lack of. Due to increased pressures from climate change and population growth, food production is being limited to gradually less land but more food is needed than ever before. Science is therefore trying to find a way of easing the strain on food production through the implementation of genetic engineering, selective breeding, and alternative food …show more content…

In the near future, it is unlikely that GMOs will be sold for human consumption in the EU on a mass scale. However, as they are used widely for animal feed there is certainly scope to implement some improvements without interruption to the supply chain, and avoiding public backlash. Increased efficiencies in the supply chain of animal feed reduces the cost of raising the animals, which in turn reduces the cost of food for the public. Simple genetic engineering techniques can greatly increase efficiency of production and reduce losses, whilst having less damaging effects than are presently

Show More
Related
1462 Words | 6 Pages

The book “Full Planet, Empty Plates” by Lester R. Brown discusses the future of food on the planet. Although there may be enough food for everyone on the planet, a great deal of that food is being used for less efficient purposes or is being wasted. This book categorized into logical chunks that describe all the major issues related to the food that humans face. In chapter 1, “Food: The Weak Link” show the world food situation is deteriorating.

Read More
1485 Words | 6 Pages

World hunger has always been a problem that has plagued humanity, and through the years, it has remained an almost impossible problem to solve. However, industrialized agriculture has become a possible solution to world hunger with its ability to produce more food on less land than traditional methods. Industrialized agriculture is the solution Robert Paarlberg offers in his article, “Attention Whole Food Shoppers” which first appeared in April 2010 edition of Foreign Policy. Paarlberg attempts to use specific criteria to demonstrate the benefits of industrialized agriculture, such as its impacts on world hunger, the income gap, and global politics. Paarlberg was to an extent successful at proving his points and persuading his intended audience.

Read More
1576 Words | 7 Pages

Both essays share common themes, in mainly advocating for sustainability in the food and agriculture industry. However, the authors suggest different methods to obtain this. Can GMOs Be Sustainable, written by McKay Jenkins mainly discusses the usage of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in the agriculture industry, and the controversy that surrounds them. The article is mainly through the point of view of farmer Jenny Schmidt, who discusses the positive effects of GMOs, and how they can help farmers. However, there are also perspectives given by different professionals, which all support the conversation of sustainability in the food industry.

Read More
1540 Words | 7 Pages

In the world, there are one billion people undernourished and one and a half billion more people overweight. In this day and age, where food has become a means of profit rather than a means of keeping people thriving and healthy, Raj Patel took it upon himself to explore why our world has become the home of these two opposite extremes: the stuffed and the starved. He does so by travelling the world and investigating the mess that was created by the big men (corporate food companies) when they took power away from the little men (farmers and farm workers) in order to provide for everyone else (the consumers) as conveniently and profitably as possible. In his book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, Patel reveals his findings and tries to reach out to people not just as readers, but also as consumers, in hopes of regaining control over the one thing that has brought us all down: the world food system.

Read More
1096 Words | 5 Pages

GMOs are considered to be the next agricultural “innovation” as some would say, but this is incorrect. They think that GMOs are a way to feed everyone on earth. Giving them the nutrients that they need to grow in conditions that most plants can’t live in, while not causing harm to physical and environmental health. They are wrong. GMOs do more harm than good.

Read More
1614 Words | 7 Pages

The Pros and Cons of Genetically Modified Foods Genetic modification is a biological technique that effects alterations in the genetic machinery of all kinds of living organisms. GMO is defined as “Organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination” (WHO, 2016). Genetically modified foods can be traced through history. The first genetically modified plants – antibiotic resistant tobacco and petunias – were produced by three independent research groups in 1983 (Zhang, et al., 2016). For this reason, the genetically modified foods are agricultural products that are dominant worldwide because of their productivity.

Read More
802 Words | 4 Pages

Most genetic engineering is designed to meet the corporates rather than the consumer’s needs. However, more and more people are growing to believe that GMO products are being produced to be ‘counterfeit freshness’ and some believe that there is no real issue. But are people just being blinded by the science? In its place of providing individuals with beneficial information, obligatory GMO labels would only intensify the misconception that so called Franken foods endangers people’s health. Most major European retailers had to remove GM products from their shelves because they were worried that this kind of technology would drive people away.

Read More
1941 Words | 8 Pages

Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type is a world-famous book written by Isabel Briggs Myers in cooperation with Peter B. Myers. The book offers an insight into the psychology of a personality, providing a detailed description and explanation of the 16 main types of personality that were previously identified in the work by Briggs and Myers. After having been published, this book earned much recognition among the readers and became a bestseller. The book presents an understanding of the Jung 's psychological types modified and adapted in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test.

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

Ever since the beginning of life, the primary challenge has been how to obtain energy. Today, about four billion years later, humanity still faces that same problem, perhaps on a larger scale than ever before. Today, we have about 7.2 billion people on earth with about 800 million hungry people. The world population continues to grow at a rapid rate; it has tripled over the last 60 years and is projected to increase to 9.2 billion people by 2050 and the food demand is projected to increase by 70%. We are therefore, facing three major food challenges.

Read More
1471 Words | 6 Pages

This would be fine if the GMOs actually showed safe activities, like they claim to be, but they are scientifically proven otherwise. “GE crops can offer less nutrition, lead to antibiotic resistance, and often contain as many or even more toxic pesticides” (Cummins 1). The United States, is the only country to legalize the use of the rBGH hormone, in which no other nation agrees on the practice, responding with, “... a United Nations food standards body, has refused to verify that rBGH is safe” (Cummins

Read More
1669 Words | 7 Pages

For years, the health and safety of genetically modified foods have been debated and researched by scientists, but the question still stands: should genetically modified foods be allowed for consumption? The process of genetic modification involves inserting a gene from bacteria or a virus into an organism where it would normally not be found. The purpose is to alter the genetic code in plants and animals to make them more productive or resistant to pests or farming techniques. Genetically modified organisms, more commonly known as GMOs, have been a controversial topic of debate for a number of reasons. The ethics behind genetically modified foods come into question due to an abundance of short and long-term effects from the process, many of which are still unknown today.

Read More
966 Words | 4 Pages

Genetically modified foods have been receiving a lot of unjustified hate from the media recently. This is unjustified because GM foods are superior for three main reasons; They produce far more food than un-altered crops, the negative environmental impact is decreased, and the overall quality of GM foods is increased. This should be far more than enough to debunk the myths of GM foods being bad. The consumer, being anyone from an industrial farmer to a small family, can rest assured buying, eating or growing

Read More
1321 Words | 6 Pages

Remember the revolutions that swept the Middle East in 2011, they all began with people in the street upset over the price of food. What’s more many of the world's top agricultural experts believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg unless we figure out new strategies to deal with global food security. We may be entering a new and dangerous phase of human history where food water and energy shortages threaten not only worse poverty but also civic unrest and international conflict. There are a number of reasons for this alarm, the first reason is that in most years we produce only just enough food to cover uses. in fact in six of the last 11 years we actually consumed slightly more food then we produced and the buffer we take from one year to the next has been steadily falling so our system already seems pretty fragile ,but it's when we look into the future that things grow very dire indeed.

Read More
1427 Words | 6 Pages

Food security and food insecurity are commonly used in discussions of global conditions and outlook. Food security exists when all people at all times have both physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for an active and healthy life. Food insecurity exists when people lack access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food, and therefore is not consuming enough for an active and healthy life. This may be due to the unavailability of food, inadequate purchasing power, or inappropriate utilization at the household level. Food insecurity leads to under-nutrition at the micro and macro nutrient level.

Read More
924 Words | 4 Pages

Food security is one of the greatest problems faced the world. There is fact said that food is enough for everyone in the world but because of the great changes which happened rapidly in the world the rate of food become less than before and it is difficult to secure it. Food security is very important to ensure that everyone has enough to eat and families can build their communities without worrying about securing their live. To meet global needs, food production must be doubled in the next years in order to solve many issues such as: starvation, malnutrition and associated health. According to The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain

Read More

More about The Influence Of Science Policy On UK Food Security

Related Topics

Open Document