Food can be produced much more cheaply today because of improved fertilisers and better machinery. However, some of the methods used to do this may be dangerous to human health and may have negative effects on local communities. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Intro: Yesterdays fiction is today’s reality. The situation has both merits and demerits

Paragraph 1: Merits:

1.  Machines save the cost of labour

2.  Machines save time, so productivity has increased dramatically.

3.  More choice

4.  Colour and shape can also be changed

-          Sweeter fruits

-          Square watermelons & yellow coloured ones

All this helps to meet the demands of the increasing population

Paragraph 2 & 3: Demerits. GM (genetically modified) food have their own disadvantages

1.  Unnatural – man should not play God

2.  Can be dangerous – For e.g. addition of nut protein to soya. Those who had nut allergy developed allergy after eating soya

3.  Rich countries can spend on this technology and further exploit poor countries

4.  Dangerous to environment – contamination of neighbouring crops by the altered gene pool

5.  Unpredictability of the behaviour of the altered gene. For e.g. a crop of corn which is genetically modified to make it less susceptible to an insect may take other unwanted characters. It may become more susceptible to another disease or it may decrease the crops ability to produce vitamin E.

Conclusion:

( Similar topic:- It is known to all that technical and scientific advances have made great changes to the range and quality of our food. Some people regard it as an improvement while others believe that the change is harmful. Discuss both views. )