The “Great Hunger” was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1849. It is sometimes referred to, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine, because about two-fifths of the population was solely reliant on this cheap crop for a number of historical reasons. During the famine, about one million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island’s population to fall by between 20% and 25%.
The potato was very important to Ireland because it could thrive in any soil. The potato was something anyone could grow, and everyone could use and survive for weeks off of. Nutritionally, the potato was excellent. If one added milk, it provided enough protein, carbohydrates, energy and minerals to lead a balanced and healthy diet. “In 1700, a Connaught farmer would perhaps have eaten one meal with potatoes in a day”. By 1800 this had increased to two. As the potato spread, the ability of a farmer to get milk or oats diminished, so many ate little but potatoes. By 1840 farmer would have eaten three potato meals a day, containing a total of around 5 to 6kg (12 to 14lb) of potatoes. The potato was introduced to Ireland as a garden crop of the gentry. It was a crop that everyone needed to survive off of. Its dependency was so high that when the potato blight happened it caused terror amongst the Irish. It also allowed people to endure the workforce buy growing and selling the crop. The blight, a disease that destroys both the leaves and the edible roots, or tubers, of the potato plant. The causative agent of late blight is the water mold Phytophthora infestans. The Irish famine was the worst to occur in Europe in the 19th century. Phytophthora infestans originated in central Mexico this was believed to be the pathogen responsible for the blight. The consequences for the blight led to the death toll of about one million people and caused many to be sick. Migrations of people allowed the disease to spread and sicken more people.
There are many issues regarding the use of GMO (genetically modified organisms) but to your surprise there are also a lot of benefits regarding these organisms. The use of Casper and cast-9 allow for gene splicing and other things to help create and reproduce things. This gives scientist a chance t create food that have zero pathogens and allow the production of more food. This could be good because we can create organisms that won’t carry specific diseases as their counterpart. The problem with this is huge. What if something went wrong with the process. What if we have the next big epidemic for modifying a disease or organism. Another main issue is how far are people willing to go with this. This could lead to a case like the novel by Mary Shelley`s “Frankenstein” will all of these doctors go mad with this power. We don’t know everything or enough about these processes to ensure that this will benefit society in the long run.
