John Camarella

Article #5

Part 1

To the Irish, the potato was their main source of stability. Both economically and food stuff-wise, it backed the average Irish family allowing them to survive easily due to the high yield of the crop along with low labor demands (Powerpoint Slides). For many of the Irish, the potato encompassed almost the entirety of their diet due to the high amount of essential nutrients that were present. Of course, there were other foodstuffs that were eaten such as cabbage. Due to the qualities of the potato that have been listed above, by the beginning of the 1840s nearly one-half of the entire Irish population had become solely dependent on the potato (Powerpoint Slides).

This explains the drastic impact that the potato famine had on the entire population of Ireland. With half of the population completely dependent on the potato, especially only on two specific types of potatoes, once the Blight emerged, it did not discriminate between the two types of potatoes blowing away the entire backbone of the country (Powerpoint Slide). During the year 1846, almost the entire crop of the potatoes across the nation was lost to the blight leaving only one-fourth left to consume, trade, and re-use for seeding. This would further cause issues for years since there were no seeds to plant causing many people to starve.

The source of such a disaster was known as Phytophthora infestans, a pathogen that when seen under a microscope appears to resemble a fungus. Once exposed to the pathogen, the crop stood no chance for survival resulting in a quick destruction of the entire area affected leaving nothing behind. Researchers nowadays were interested in figuring out where this pathogen could have come from and why it was so effective at destroying the potato populations. What they found was two strains of the pathogen instead of just a singular pathogen that spread. The first strain arrived in the above stated time of the 1840s that caused the devastation of the Irish potato. Researchers dubbed this strain HERB-1 (Powerpoint Slides). Later in the early parts of the 1900s, another strain circulation through the United Kingdom along with the southern parts of Africa and Middle East (Powerpoint Slides). Additionally, they found that the source of the infection had come from Central America where it is believed it was carried through trade in the Americas and eventually transported across the Atlantic to the Markets in Europe.

The Blight led to mass starvation and death throughout Ireland between the dates of 1845 and 1852 (Powerpoint Slides). Without the ability to grow potatoes due to lack of yield, food was scare resulting in the body not being able to maintain a healthy immune system. This lead to diseases such as measles, tuberculosis, and cholera to reach epidemic levels in the population. With nothing left to support them, more than a million Irish would immigrate to the Americas in order to escape the Blight in search of the ability to have a chance. The ships that carried the emigrates also carried the diseases of Ireland, infecting each individual that was too close on board. Unfortunately, this would be a high number due to how packed each ship would be. These ships would earn the nickname of “Coffin Ships” (Powerpoint Slides).

Part 2

In order to prevent the Blight from having as large of an effect as it did in Ireland, researchers have genetically engineered potatoes to be resistant to the Blight. This raises a lot of questions due to the introduction of an artificially created plant being introduced into the ecosystem. It may be resistant to the Blight, but is it safe for the other animals and insects that also coexist and possibly even depend on the potato? What effect does this have on humans after it has been consumed? Should we be messing with the very delicate balance of the ecosystem rather than find a different stable crop in order to depend on? Would this situation have been avoided if globalization had never been achieved?

The questions are numerous and important as genetic modification can lead to a new development that we, as humans, could not have predicted. Also, this offers precedent showing that modification can be done on plants which open doors to other things that can be genetically modified like animals and even humans. That, as well, brings questions of ethical practices along with it.