Poverty And The Hunger Epidemic - 1659 Words

Introduction – In many parts of the world people go hungry every day and they don t have the means to feed themselves or the security that they will eat again. The lands no longer bear fruit and cannot provide for those who counted on them to both survive and make a living. One such example is Ethiopia in Africa, and it is a hot zone of the hunger epidemic. Poor nutrition causes nearly half of the deaths in children under 5 ( 3.1 million children each year), as well as on a lesser note 1 in 4 of the world s children have their growth stunted because of hunger. Meanwhile agriculture is a staple in most economies and Ethiopia is without that suffering leaving it with no food security. Ethiopia is in dire need of help with its hunger†¦show more content†¦This is where the United States have a technological advantage because they can take on fertile lands and make them farmable overtime to both turn profit and feed their hungry unlike those needs help you who did not have the resources nor the ability being and developing country. In Ethiopia it is hard for them to set up rural communities because they do not have a stable source of food and Life for them all to live together. Contrastingly to that of a small farm community and say Arkansas, they are able to live all together because they share each other’s crops and grow together and benefit from each other’s strengths. However in both instances both communities tried to bind together to support each other and develop a better economic and societal structure. The issue of hunger has so many effects on both the United States and Ethiopia, and yet they differ because the United States has so many advances on the Ethiopian. Ethiopia will never be at the same level as the United States unless it was given to help them set up the processes however the US is still combating their own hunger issues as well. Solution – To help combat this issue there are a few things that could be done to fight hunger in Ethiopia. Through programs being implemented water could be brought in and the soil could be told so that it could finally be able to be farmed. With proper irrigation systems and training programs implemented Ethiopians could be trained how

Golden Rice Free Essays

Golden rice Vitamin A is one of the most important vitamins to humans, and it plays an inevitable role in our daily life, thus Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) affects millions of people, causing serious health problems. Therefore, scientists are searching for the most effective method to let people obtain enough Vitamin A as possible. As a consequence, the scientific program of cultivating Golden Rice has attracted people’s attention. We will write a custom essay sample on Golden Rice or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"Golden Rice is a new type of rice that contains beta-carotene, a source of Vitamin A † (Golden rice, para. ). This new technology has aroused many controversial debates. Some organizations and individuals think that Golden Rice poses unknown threats to the environment and human health, even preventing people from diversifying their diet. In contrast, others hold the opinion that Golden Rice has more benefits than harm to humans, helping to release the severe situation about VAD. This issue is a worth exploring in the aspects of technology, economy and efficiency. As a new project with high-tech content, Golden Rice needs reliable technical supports. Until now, many developing countries, such as African country, have no chances of benefiting from bio-technology, while developed countries have already enjoyed the new invention to obtain their mental health. Many people from the developing country recommend that, since the last green revolution had been missed, they do not want to miss this one, which may allow them to have the opportunity to lift millions of people out of hunger. What is more, International Rice Research Institute( IRRI) is optimistic about the prospects for the Golden Rice project, and they believe that it may open up a kind of new research model creating partnerships with the private institution. On the contrary, people consider that this technique needs to establish its reliability before it becomes available to the general public. Methods such as testing should be done, making sure it could suit the local environment. Moreover, this advanced agriculture technology needs to be promoted through marketing subjects in order to assure its safety. As far as I am concerned, bio-safety cannot be guaranteed. As we know, data on the potential health risks of Genetically Modified Foods (GMO) foods are scanty, which has made it impractical to remove the risk. There is a concern that the transgenic crop may endanger biodiversity, and lead to the extinction of valuable bio-resources, thus it is unwise to take this risk. Beyond that, the economic factors cannot be ignored. For people from developing countries, Golden Rice was thought to be contributed to reach self-sufficient in food to climb out of poverty. After all, economic turmoil and social instability may well happen without food security. It is also significant for the independence of nation and peace to the world. Besides, the IRRI thought they could seek economic help for private sectors, so that they do not have to worry about the funding issues. On the other hand, Friends of the Earth (FOE) found that such a project can hardly get nearly the amount of funding they deserved according to the data of past years. It is said that† more than $100 million dollars has been spent on developing golden rice, and another $50 million has been budgeted for advertisements touting the crops’ future benefits â€Å"(Pollan, 2001, p. 15). How many cases of blindness could be averted right now if the industry were to divert this investment from advertising spending to a few of the programs such as providing free seeds to poor famers to help more people? In addition, the main purpose of this research is to solve the VAD and the poverty problem. However, malnutrition, diseases and poverty are deeply rooted in social soil, associating with economic and political systems, such as, the unfairness of income distribution. Hence, the Golden Rice has done little to address the fundamental problem. With all these essentials, the other important factor is on effectiveness on consuming. There is no denial that Golden Rice can supply a certain amount of Vitamin A, and it is necessary for developing countries to operate as stakeholders, instead of just accepting the decision made by government from developed countries. However, the fact is that Golden Rice has too little Vitamin A, a woman has to eat 16 pounds of cooked rice a day to satisfy her minimum daily requirement of Vitamin A, according to the research made by FOE. Hence,FOE advocate diet diversification. â€Å"Previous studies either focused solely on effects of the rice on Vitamin A intakes without considering health outcomes, but used only highly aggregate intake data without taking into account important nutritional features like dietary heterogeneity† (Stein, Sachdev, amp; Qaim, 2006, P. 4-10). In addition, Krawinkel argued that the general issue is that nutritional deficiencies are rarely focused on one nutrient (e. g. , vitamin A, iron, selenium, zinc or others). In most cases, they are complex conditions and many sources for the various nutrients (Krawinkel , 2007, p. 9). It can be seen easily that the technical issue, economic issue and efficiency of Golden Rice have connected with each other closely. Essentially, I tend to think that disadvantages of developing Golden rice outweigh the benefits, located with three main reasons including doubting about the safety of genetically modified (GM) crops, reasoning the huge payout with small output and disagreeing with the monotonous diet, instead of a diverse diet. From my point of view, developing the varied diet is not only the most radical way to get all the nutrients we need but also helping to improve the life quality as well as developing a healthy lifestyle. References IRRI. (n. d. ). Golden rice. Retrieved from http://www. irri. org/index. php? option=com_k2amp;view=itemlistamp;task=categoryamp;id=764:golden-rice-at-irriamp;lang=en Krawinkel, M. B. (2007). What we know and don’t know about golden rice. Nature Biotechnology, 25(6), 623; doi: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1038/nbt0607-623 Pollan, M. (2001, Mar 04). The great yellow hype. New York Times Magazine, 15. Stein, A. J. , H. P. S. Sachdev, ;amp; Qaim, M. (2006). Potential impact and cost-effectiveness of golden rice. Nature Biotechnology, 24(10), 1200-1. doi: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1038/nbt1006-1200b How to cite Golden Rice, Papers

PDA Positive Developmental Assistance free essay sample

The person who has the most major influence on me is my mother, who was known to her friends simply as Lainie. My mother died almost six years ago. I was a thirteen year old girl in middle school. Although both of my sisters were away at school (my middle sister was in high school and my oldest sister was in college), and I was at a private/LD exclusive boarding and day (boarding for me) school in Vermont. It happened over Thanksgiving Break. It was exactly the day after Thanksgiving. I called my friends. (I even talked who I liked to call back then the people who hated me.) They went back to PRS (Pine Ridge School) as soon as vacation was over but I had to stay at home in Princeton, New Jersey for the Memorial Service. Believe it or not I did not want to. I did not even want to wear black. We will write a custom essay sample on PDA: Positive Developmental Assistance or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But I had no choice in both matters. My mother was always lively. Even after she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, in remission, and then diagnosed again, back when there was little knowledge on how to lessen the severity of it. On top of that, both times it was diagnosed, it was diagnosed late. She would go on walks with her friends, one who died on Thanksgiving night in 2008. Almost exactly five years after herself. She would wake us up, wait for the school bus with us, and then off theyd go. She would even do this in the Winter. She would have to pay the consequence by overcoming black ice first, but she was always strong and her slipping on black ice injuries were rarely anything serious. On weekends, sometimes I would want to come with her. On those days her friends would get coffee and she would get hot cocoa at the Small World Coffee shop in downtown Princeton. She wouldnt let me because they did not stroll. They power walked and I was young, had short legs, and I was not ath letic at all. Later on in life I did discover that I could out walk my whole family. Even my mom. When my mom brought her hot cocoa home it would always be half full (not half empty) and have a red lipstick smudge on it that was her hot cocoa trademark or Lainie/Mom was here sign. When she didnt look I would drink what was left of it but when she would find out that nine year old Julia had drank it all, she would just laugh. The assistance my mother has had in my development can be found hidden in the above story. By living she has brought me life. She has also brought me into this world as well. By dying she was telling me that I was strong enough to live life to its fullest without her. I believe that she is still watching over me and stepping in when it is needed. As long as I still believe in her, her presence will linger with mine. When I was old enough she would sometimes help me navigate through downtown Princeton, (Of course, some credit should be given to her now deceased best friend and my middle sister). If it werent for her time and patience For those first, probably most important, thirteen years of my life I would not be as independent as I am today.