The Killing Potatoes & A Current Attempt to Fight it with Technology
With an increase from 3.5 to 8 million, the Irish population more than doubled between 1700 and 1840. With increases this big, housing and food resources often become a large problem. That being said, the Irish depended on the potato as a main source of food due to its high calories with nutrients and its easy labor. However, between 1845 and 1852, their potatoes became ruined by blight. The pathogen associated with this blight was a fungus calledPhytophthora infestans. Some factors in society that lead to this blight infestation were the changes in migration since the strain of infestans were thought to have made its way to Ireland after cruising on ships from Mexico, North America, and Europe. A huge consequence of this blight was the large increase in starvation and therefore a direct decrease in the Irish population. Another major consequence of the potato blight aside from starvation and malnutrition, were that those that were already malnourished became more vulnerable to other diseases such as Measles, diarrhea, TB, and Cholera. As for Diarrheal diseases, these came as a result of the subpar hygiene, poor sanitation and alteration in diets (lack of potato’s nutrients).
With technology increasing constantly, plant/animal modification has become a large controversy. Although it has many benefits, people are still skeptical about altering life. Some benefits of these modifications include creating crops that cannot be harmed by pathogens such a blight as we saw between 1845 and 1852. This is obviously important because crops can be protected from many different fungi that can harm humans. In addition to this, these genetically modified potatoes have been approved by the FDA deeming them safe. Another positive of these newly approved genetically modified potatoes, is that they reduce the use of fungicide in half. Even though these GMO potatoes have been deemed safe, many people consider their use unethical since nature is being altered. Certain food establishments refuse to use them including McDonalds. Another positive for genome editing crops is a rapid increase in food production. However, with this comes a negative of taking away jobs that farmers currently hold. If their crops rapidly increase, their value will decrease, and the farmers could be driven out of work. Another negative of genome editing is the lack of knowledge we still have on connecting genotypes and phenotypes. As a result of this lack of knowledge, many of these genome-edited crops have in the past and currently struggled with being regulated by the government, FDA, and publicly accepted. Personally, my view on GMOs and genome-edited crops is a positive one. I believe in a quick paced economy and life like the one we live in, efficiency is important. In addition to more rapid production, many of these GMOs, such as the potatoes, have been created to actually be safer and help us avoid bacteria and fungi. However, I do agree that these GMOs should have to be approved by the FDA before they’re accepted but once approved I believe they are safe.
Help Received
Irish Potato Famine PowerPoint
Irish Potato Blight PDF (supplementary reading)
Irish Potato Blight films
FDA approved genetically engineered potatoes (supplementary reading)
Genome editors take on crops (supplementary reading)