Self awareness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Self aw arness - Essay ExampleSelf dream up is the over whole reflection of a persons emotional worth. I ordain improve my self esteem by dressing well in public for the next two years before completing my education. This is the importance I attach to dressing. I leave behind double my expenditure in article of clothing to the tunes of at least three times the initial amount after every three months to achieve self esteem. This is the most essential opportunities applicable to my scenario condescension the other avenues being in place. Other opportunities include associating with popular members of the society. Dressing codes put one across been used to denote not only culture, but ascribed status as well. Therefore, dressing will denote higher self esteem. This will be attained within a period of two years. The attainment of this goal requires me to father savings that will be used to purchase the clothes. The savings will also be a step towards counteracting the obstacle of economic challenges that are capricious to people worldwide. This will be useful in preventing the person for relapse adopting the previous dressing patterns. A dressing course would assist in accord factors in the environment that make people acquire the particular dressing behaviour. With knowledge of such factors, using dressing to enhance self esteem will be unavoidable. Besides, acquiring some skills as far as funds management is concerned is also significant. In addition, I will do enquiry to find out the requirements for one to consider to be dressing well and steps to take. The efforts required will be analysed critically. With such information, one would assemble all the resources before the actual work begins. Recording all the progress will be quite useful. These records will be evaluated after every three months. This will be critical in assuring that resources are used well, which will subsequently result into the realisation of objectives. Therefore, the planned acti vities will be adhered to without any violations. The study challenge according to this objective will be reverting to the previous dressing behaviour. This challenge would be overcome by consulting those who have undergone the entire function of behaviour change, and how they handled the challenges they faced. Besides, advice will be sought on how to integrate such goals with the daily life activities so that nothing is compromised. Step two Research conducted among college students in a university in Nigeria found out that people bought overpriced clothes to improve their self esteem. Those who bought costly clothes agreed that they did so to improve on their self esteem among their friends within the college. Besides, improving myself esteem, expensive clothes offer additional advantages. For example, expensive clothes are fashionable than those that are cheap. In addition, they are very durable a property that makes them to last for a longer duration than the cheap ones. Thi s conforms to a statement in the society that states that cheap is expensive (Karnack, 35). Several approaches will be applied to ensure that my self esteem improves besides buying expensive clothes. These approaches will be used to supplement the expensive clothes that have been bought. The first will be to enhance proper hygiene it will be a way of enriching my public appearance. In particular, my hair will be kept short and smart. Along with the clean and expensive clothes, this will greatly improve how I am perceived in public. undecomposed hygiene together with wearing expensive clothes can only be recognized when someone identifies a posture that can be regarded as unique. These attributes put together will be crucial in enhancing my esteem (Koop, 45). They seem quite basic, but are essential for developing self esteem. Studies have also found out that untidy people have lower self esteem among themselves. Smartness thus, brings out the personality in a person. Abraham Maslo ws hierarchy of needs explains this process aptly. Maslow

IUD Birth Control Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

intrauterine device Birth Control - Case Study ExampleAn IUD is positioned in the uterus by a health care specialist to pr flusht unwanted pregnancies and/or for family planning purposes.There are two types of IUD contraceptives Mirena and Paragard (Grimes, 2007). Mirena is the type of IUD that contains hormones. Its functionality depends on levonorgestrel, a hormone released from the IUD once inserted into the uterus. In other words, Mirena is a hormonal IUD which prevents pregnancies for the period it remains inserted into the uterus. The effectiveness of this IUD contraceptive can last for up to a period of five years, although this effectiveness is not a hundred percent guaranteed. However, Mirena is slightly more effective compared to copper IUD.Paragard is another IUD contraceptive, and it is most usually used compared to the hormonal IUD. In this IUD, the T-shaped plastic device is wrapped with a copper fit out, preventing pregnancies by killing sperm through the toxicity of the copper wire wound around the plastic devices stem (Grimes, 2007). This type of IUD can remain inserted into the uterus for up to a period of cardinal years, the period throughout which it remains effective. Just like the hormonal IUD, Paragards effectiveness is not a hundred percent guaranteed, since cases of pregnancies have been reported even with this IUD still fitted into the uterus.Both the above identified IUD contraceptives (Mirena and Paragard) prevent pregnancies from occurring. They do so by hindering the egg fertilization by the sperm. The mood of functionality is ether damaging the sperm to a point that it cannot fertilize the egg, or killing it alto noticeher, meaning that the fertilization cannot, therefore, take place. Mirena damages or kills the sperm using a form of hormone progestin known as levonorgestrel (Fritz & Speroff, 2011). Mirena also thickens the mucus found in the cervix, making it sticky and unfavorable for sperm to get to the uterus. Over and ab ove damaging or killing the sperm, Mirena makes

Measuring Construction Industry Performance Essay

Measuring Construction Industry Performance - Essay ExampleRevenues from constructed buildings atomic number 18 not keeping pace with escalating cost of equipments, transportation and other economic factors. The prices of related construction items are quietly unrelated to the expenditure put in constructing, transporting materials, processing and selling.Floods and droughts have made the established businessmen to become debtors though they have borrowed money and invested the same in equipment and land. There are delays in get government funds, which are in adequate to meet these types of natural calamities. Though there are private insurance companies to cover insurance of these investments from weather-related catastrophes they are not that much doful. The small players who solely depend on their investments are the losers of these natural calamities.Like any other traders or businessmen, investors can ensure long endpoint growth and stability through proper planning in chang ing market conditions during the periods of floods, drought and in price downsizing and also taking the help of key performance indicators (KPI) or benchmarking so that they may not depend on the assistance and support of government. Sharon McClements et al (2002) concluded that the Construction Best rule Programme, have developed a benchmarking gateway known as KPI zone.In construction fi In construction field, many problems are attributed to UK consumers refusal to recognise and pay for foster added to the products produced by the small investors. Because of this, the investors are not able recover their investments and expenses through sales which tends them to expect government subsidies to support them. The investors are not in a position to bear the smallest price increase in power tariff. There are two types of economic nationalism. The first protection in trade is stand for in establishing a system of rates and tariffs in favour of domestic production and discourages fore ign imports. This kind of protection is desired to encourage establishment of industrial base in UK by saving small and infant industries against the competition of larger and well-established firms in abroad.The second economic protectionism is a post world fight -II phenomenon that is related to the proprietorship as UK businesses by foreign traders and investors. international companies have been set up after world war-II due to immense investments of foreigners in UK business.Multinational companies thought that they could evade tariff restrictors in UK by introducing their own branches plants and subsidiaries, which allowed them to go to markets, mobilize resources and capital and get favours with UK government. These kinds of investments have created to the economic nationalism due to elaborateness of multinational companies. The foreign owned companies could not take central position over economic decisions from their head office from outside UK. The economists in UK are c ompelled to contract for bringing out a legislation to oversee the activities and restrain the growth of foreign ownership in UK economy.UK is one of the members of many international groups one amongst them is G-8, the octad largest industrial democracies. The G-8 countries heads of governments

Emerging Wireless Technology in the Healthcare Industry Assignment

Emerging Wireless Technology in the Healthcare effort - Assignment ExampleIn fact, these investments render cause enhanced efficiency, the implementation of new processes and high quality of services. In spite of all these developments the healthcare field failed to develop pleasure in the efficiency and improvements since the healthcare sector has always been working under inadequate resources. With the passage of time, the strategy makers, decision makers, operators, and other stakeholders realized the grandeur of information and communication technology, in particular wireless technology and observed a chance to deal with some of the major issues the healthcare industry is liner (Hafeez-Baig & Gururajan, 2009). This paper discusses the use of wireless technologies in healthcare sector. The paper also outlines the advantages and drawbacks of wireless technologies in the context of the healthcare sector. A large number of researches have shown that the use of wireless computin g can help healthcare firms deal with some of the critical problems for instance reduction in expenditures, quality of care, reduction in errors, shortages of human resources, reduction in financial support, and high satisfaction levels among employees and customers. For instance, an electronically readable code can be assigned to a patient registering in a hospital and an employee using wireless devices can insert vital information straightforwardly into the hospital network. In the same way, wireless devices can be utilized to connect a patients body to a variety of hospital machines and devices with the purpose of keeping records of medical data for instance heart function, blood pressing and these important features can be straightforwardly recorded, regularly monitored and assessed by healthcare professionals both within and outside the hospital (Hafeez-Baig & Gururajan, 2009). According to (Gururajan & Murugesan, 2005), in healthcare sector wireless technology is utilized as an umbrella term which involves the use of a wide range of wireless devices such as personal digital assistants, mobile and handheld computers, mobile phones, wireless computer networks pagers and mobile and wireless communications. As discussed above, in healthcare sector wireless technologies can be used for completing a wide variety of tasks. For instance, wireless technologies can be utilized by healthcare professionals to access patient data and records, to collect and investment company data and records of patients at the point of entry or to enter or update definite predefined data/information with the purpose of processing billing think issues (Gururajan & Murugesan, 2005). In addition, through these wireless technologies and handheld devices, healthcare professionals can perform different tests, advise medicines, and ask for additional services straightforwardly from the patients bed. One of the roughly important advantages for the healthcare sector is that wireless devi ces can offer care as well as other connected services, anywhere, at any time, and at an affordable price, at the point of care in extremely competitive surroundings. For that reason, it can be said that the implementation and use of wireless technologies can be significant for successful survival and improvement of healthcare sector. In fact, in addition to a reduction in the need for additional hardware/ run

Contraceptive Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Contraceptive - Article ExampleCondoms were the contraceptive method preferred by adolescents in Benin. However, the study also reported low uptake of contraception methods among most adolescents (Osaikhuwuomwan & Abieyuwa, 2013).Emergency contraceptives are the other commonly use of goods and servicesd contraceptive measures. concord to Hickey & White (2014), most college students are aware of the extremity contraception and its availability over the counter. However, the researchers also cited that there is low confidentiality in the use of emergency contraception as a method to proscribe unplanned pregnancies among the students (p. 30). The level of awareness of emergency contraception and access to the pills over the counter was high among adolescents in San Francisco Bay (Yen et al., 2014). In both studies recognize that the teenagers and youths choose to use emergency contraceptives because they are aware of the pregnancy risk and desire to prevent any institute of unintend ed pregnancy. However, Yen et al., (2014) argue that adolescents lack enough knowledge on emergency contraceptive pills and recommend more education on the ECP among these young citizenry to alleviate the misconception.Contrary to these three studies, other scholars attempted to investigate the relationship between contraceptive use, childbearing and future success in life. Richards & Sheeder (2014) conducted the study and engraft that most women felt that childbearing would not affect their educational achievement (p. 303). The perception poses a challenge to conventional pregnancy prevention counselling approaches that use contraceptive use as a motivator for women to avoid pregnancy. Most conventional counselling methods urge women to use contraceptives as the primary means to prevent pregnancy. The idea is to motivate women not to bear children at early stages in their lives to secure a bright future. However, as Richards & Sheeder (2014) found out, not all

Lotus Car Rental Launch Lotus Green Essay Example for Free

white lotus Car rental Launch Lotus Green EssayIn the current mood of environmental and financial concerns across the United States many moving ines have taken the foremost to go commons. Green products and practices often monetary value more at the fuck off and then generate savings over the lifetime of the product through energy conservation and maintenance savings. Car term of a contract agencies, including Lotus competitors, have begun to curb hybrid options into their fleet as a way of tapping into an emerging class of eco-conscious consumers. Hybrid vehicles are becoming more popular among consumers and are expected to be common place in the near future. Lotus can go about developing a green branch now as part of an initiative to update services that reflect future growth. There are currently more than 1,800,000 thousand cars for rent in the United States generating round $21 meg in revenue (Ohngren Brown, 2007). The car rental argumentation as a whole has stea dily increased since 2002 and a rise is expected over the abutting five days. However, due to the dramatic fluxation in splosholine prices as well as growing environmental concerns there is currently a demand for evoke efficient and hybrid vehicles.Rental statistics for Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), minivans, large trucks and other vehicles that have low fuel economy have been on the decline since consumers began to feel the collision of rising gasoline prices. Current customers looking to save money at the pump as well as a new generation of environmentally conscious spenders are looking for hybrid options. Lotus can accommodate this potential clientele base by launching a line of green vehicles. Major competitors such as Avis Budget, Rent-A-Car, Hertz and Enterprise already offer hybrid vehicles for rent.Although the price of these vehicles is higher per day customers are typically promised to save in gas mileage and they are paying the difference. The majority of potenti al clients interested in Hybrid vehicles are exiting to pay more in replacement for the satisfaction of driving a vehicle that produces less carbon emissions and conserves gasoline. Hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV) use two or more sources of energy. The most common energy sources implicate a combination of renewable energy storage system (RESS) and gasoline or diesel.However, solar energy, hydrogen and other alternative sources of fuel are uncommitted for use in HEVs as well. HEVs can be configured to increase power, improve gas mileage or provide auxiliary power for galvanising devices and power tools. Emerging technology dictates that alternative fuels and hybrid vehicles are leading the way into the future. According to a Priceline survey 72 percent of travelers want rental car companies to offer hybrid vehicles (Environmental Leader, 2007, p. 01).Approximately 39 percent said they would even be willing to pay $1 to $3 more per day for a hybrid option. Current investment proje cts in renewable energy may wan as the price of gasoline drops to $70 a barrel, the last in nearly two years, but long term projections indicate that the use of alternative fuels will prosper over the next ten years and gasoline usage (Environmental Leader, 2007, p. 01). Going green is going to become a necessity for rental companies that want to stay ahead of the curve.Specifically companies promoting the benefits of green business practices as well as eco-marketing can build strong brand integrity (Ohngren Brown, 2007). Advertising campaigns geared toward the emerging class of eco-conscience money makers are already proving to be successful. According to www. business. gov, a government based business resource, companies that are already competitive in price and services benefit from adding green initiatives, products and eco-labeling as a method of securing a share of the market (Business.gov The Official Business Link to the US Government, 2008) As a small business looking to fatten in a growingly competitive market Lotus can benefit from launching a green fleet of rental options. Current competitors are solitary(prenominal) using Hybrid vehicles as a small percentage of their fleet. By replacing three currently outdated vehicles with Hybrid options Lotus can begin a green campaign as well as update current selection of vehicles. The Honda Civic Hybrid and the Toyota Prius are two of the most cost strong hybrid vehicles currently on the market.The 2009 Civic gets approximately 45 miles per gallon and can be purchased around $24,000. Although this is significantly higher than a unoriginal Civic, which costs approximately $16,000 and gets 34 miles per gallon, consumers looking to test drive a hybrid as well as a growing number of consumers who will make a decision based on environmental choices will choice this option over the conventional model despite the price. The 2009 Toyota Prius is emerging as an even more cost effective hybrid starting at $22,0 00 it gets 48 miles per gallon.The cadence price of a conventional car rental is approximately $55 per day. Competitors are charging $5 to $15 more per day for hybrid vehicles (Rent a Hybrid Car, n. d. ). Hybrid vehicles are becoming increasingly more common. So much so that hybrid rentals are also becoming more common. Eventually the cost of hybrid rental cars may be equivalent to that of standard vehicles. However, rental companies must take the lead and offer hybrid vehicles as well as promote them in order to pursue this avenue of business expansion.By making more hybrid vehicles available and promoting their benefits, rental companies could easily increase their popularity among otherwise uninterested consumers. As popularity increases, the price of renting these green cars, which cost less to maintain to begin with, could eventually equal that of standard rentals (Rent a Hybrid Car, n. d. , 4). In conclusion, hybrid vehicles currently cost more than conventional vehicles. j ust consumers are illustrating that they are willing to pay more for hybrid options.Furthermore, the popularity of hybrid vehicles has already increased dramatically and is expected to continue to do so. The natural ferment of supply and demand has already produced an increased number of hybrid vehicles within the automobile market. This trend is expected to continue until hybrid vehicles become a secure within the auto industry. Lotus competitors have already begun to incorporate hybrid vehicles into their fleet as well as launch green campaigns and solidify branding. Lotus can gain an edge by incorporating hybrid vehicles as well as launching a branch of green car rentals.Incorporating hybrids will forbid Lotus competitive with other rental agencies as well as meet consumer demand for this product. Currently there are two cost effective hybrid options, the Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius. Although both have higher fuel economy than conventional vehicles the Prius is emergin g as a better investment. The Prius gets better gas mileage and costs less. Adding a small percentage of hybrid options allows Lotus to launch a new eco-conscious branding campaign as well as pursue a new class of customers, the environmentally concerned.ReferencesBusiness. gov The Official Business Link to the US Government (Producer). (2008). Green Marketing Video file. Retrieved from www. business. gov Environmental Leader (2007, April 24). Rental Car Customers Want Hybrid Option. Retrieved from Environmental briefing web site www. environmentalleader. com Ohngren, K. , Brown, C. (2007, September/October). The Greening of the Auto Rental Industry. Auto Rental News, 6. Rent a Hybrid Car (n. d. ). Green or not? How much eco-cred do rental car agencies get for offering hybrids?. Retrieved December 01, 2008, from www. hybrid-rental-car. com

The Increased Use of Genetically Modified Food Essay Example for Free

The Increased Use of Genetic eithery Modified Food EssayGenetic all toldy-limited feeds (GM foods) hit made a rangy splash in the news lately. European environmental organizations and unrestricted by-line groups allow been actively pro interrogation against GM foods for months, and recent controversial studies about the effectuate of genetically-modified clavus pollen on monarch butterfly caterpillars1, 2 have brought the issue of genetic engineering to the forefront of the public consciousness in the U. S. In response to the upswelling of public worry, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held three open meetings in Chicago, Washington, D. C., and Oakland, California to solicit public opinions and begin the process of establishing a new regulatory mathematical function for government approval of GM foods3.I attended the FDA meeting held in November 1999 in Washington, D. C. , and here I will attempt to summarize the issues involved and exempt the U. S. govern ments present role in regulating GM food. What atomic number 18 genetically-modified foods? The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly manipulationd to refer to crop plants created for gentlemans gentleman or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques.These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired attributes much(prenominal) as change magnitude tube to weedkillers or improved nutritional content. The enhancement of desired traits has traditionally been undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding methods plunder be very time consuming and are often non very accurate. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, so-and-so create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy. For example, plant geneticists can isolate a gene responsible for drought tolerance and insert that gene into a diverse plant.The new genetically-modified plant will gain drought toleran ce as well. Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but genes from non-plant organisms in addition can be used. The best known example of this is the use of B. t. genes in corn whiskey and other crops. B. t. , or Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that make grows crystal proteins that are lethal to bird louse larvae. B. t. crystal protein genes have been transferred into corn, enabling the corn to produce its own infestationicides against insects much(prenominal) as the European corn borer.For two illuminating overviews of some of the techniques involved in creating GM foods, visit Biotech Basics (sponsored by Monsanto) http//www. biotechknowledge. monsanto. com/biotech/bbasics. nsf/index or Techniques of Plant Biotechnology from the National Center for Biotechnology fosterage http//www. ncbe. reading. ac. uk/NCBE/GMFOOD/techniques. What are some of the advantages of GM foods? The innovation population has topped 6 billion peopl e and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to get in.GM foods promise to meet this deal in a number of ways Pest resistanceCrop losses from insect pests can be staggering, resulting in devastating financial loss for grangers and starvation in underdeveloped countries. Farmers typically use many tons of chemical pesticides annually. Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards, and run-off of agricultural wastes from unwarranted use of pesticides and fertilizers can poison the water supply and cause harm to the environment.Growing GM foods such as B. t.corn can help eliminate the finishing of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market4, 5. Herbicide toleranceFor some crops, it is not cost-effective to remove weeds by physical gist such as tilling, so farmers will often spray l arge quantities of different herbicides (weed- toss beseech) to destroy weeds, a time-consuming and expensive process, that requires care so that the herbicide doesnt harm the crop plant or the environment. Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental injure by reducing the amount of herbicides needed.For example, Monsanto has created a strain of soybeans genetically modified to be not affected by their herbicide product Roundup 6. A farmer grows these soybeans which then only require one application of weed- crop uper instead of multiple applications, reducing production cost and limiting the dangers of agricultural waste run-off7. Disease resistance at that place are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases8, 9.Cold toleranceUnexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze g ene from cold water fish has been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato. With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified seedlings10. (Note I have not been able to find any journal articles or patents that involve fish antifreeze proteins in strawberries, although I have seen such reports in newspapers.I can only conclude that nothing on this application has soon enough been published or patented.) Drought tolerance/salinity toleranceAs the world population grows and more land is utilized for housing instead of food production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in erstwhile inhospitable places11, 12. NutritionMalnutrition is common in 3rd world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice f or the primary(prenominal) staple of their diet.However, rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. For example, blindness due to vitamin A deficiency is a common problem in third world countries. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of engineering science Institute for Plant Sciences have created a strain of golden rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (vitamin A)13.Since this rice was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation14, a non-profit organization, the Institute hopes to offer the golden rice seed free to any third world country that requests it. Plans were underway to develop a golden rice that also has increase iron content. However, the grant that funded the creation of these two rice strains was not renewed, perhaps because of the vigorous anti-GM food protesting in Europe, and so this nutritionally-enhanced rice may not come to market at all15.PharmaceuticalsMedicines and vaccines often are costly to produce and sometimes require special storage conditions not readily available in third world countries. Researchers are working to develop edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes16, 17. These vaccines will be much easier to ship, store and administer than traditional injectable vaccines. PhytoremediationNot all GM plants are grown as crops. Soil and groundwater pollution continues to be a problem in all parts of the world. Plants such as poplar trees have been genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil18.How prevalent are GM crops? What plants are involved? According to the FDA and the United States section of Agriculture (USDA), in that respect are over 40 plant varieties that have completed all of the federal requirements for commercialization (http//vm. cfsan. fda. gov/%7Elrd/biocon). Some examples of these pla nts include tomatoes and cantalopes that have modified ripening characteristics, soybeans and sugarbeets that are resistant to herbicides, and corn and cotton plants with increased resistance to insect pests.Not all these products are available in supermarkets yet however, the preponderance of GM foods in U. S. grocery stores is more widespread than is commonly thought. While there are very, very few genetically-modified whole fruits and vegetables available on produce stands, highly processed foods, such as vegetable oils or breakfast cereals, most likely contain some tiny percentage of genetically-modified ingredients because the raw ingredients have been pooled into one processing stream from many different sources.Also, the ubiquity of soybean derivatives as food additives in the modern American diet virtually ensures that all U. S. consumers have been exposed to GM food products. The U. S. statistics that conjoin are derived from data presented on the USDA web site at http//ww w. ers. usda. gov/briefing/biotechnology/. The world(prenominal) statistics are derived from a brief published by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) at http//www. isaaa. org/publications/briefs/Brief_21. htm and from the Biotechnology Industry Organization at http//www. bio.org/foodag/1999Acreage. bakers dozen countries grew genetically-engineered crops commercially in 2000, and of these, the U. S. produced the majority. In 2000, 68% of all GM crops were grown by U. S. farmers. In comparison, Argentina, Canada and China produced only 23%, 7% and 1%, respectively. different countries that grew commercial GM crops in 2000 are Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Spain, and Uruguay. Soybeans and corn are the top two most widely grown crops (82% of all GM crops harvested in 2000), with cotton, rapeseed (or canola) and potatoes trailing behind.74% of these GM crops were modified for herbicide tolerance, 19% were modified for insect pest resistance, and 7% were modified for both herbicide tolerance and pest tolerance. Globally, acreage of GM crops has increased 25-fold in just 5 years, from approximately 4. 3 million acres in 1996 to 109 million acres in 2000 close to twice the area of the United Kingdom. Approximately 99 million acres were devoted to GM crops in the U. S. and Argentina alone. In the U. S. , approximately 54% of all soybeans cultivated in 2000 were genetically-modified, up from 42% in 1998 and only 7% in 1996.In 2000, genetically-modified cotton varieties accounted for 61% of the total cotton crop, up from 42% in 1998, and 15% in 1996. GM corn and also experienced a similar but less dramatic increase. Corn production increased to 25% of all corn grown in 2000, about the same as 1998 (26%), but up from 1. 5% in 1996. As anticipated, pesticide and herbicide use on these GM varieties was slashed and, for the most part, yields were increased (for details, see the UDSA pu blication at http//www. ers. usda. gov/publications/aer786/). What are some of the criticisms against GM foods?Environmental activists, religious organizations, public interest groups, professional associations and other scientists and government officials have all raised concerns about GM foods, and criticized agribusiness for pursuing profit without concern for potential hazards, and the government for weakness to exercise adequate regulatory oversight. It seems that everyone has a strong opinion about GM foods. Even the Vatican19 and the Prince of Wales20 have expressed their opinions. Most concerns about GM foods capitulation into three categories environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns.Environmental hazards Unintended harm to other organismsLast year a laboratory study was published in Nature21 showing that pollen from B. t. corn caused high mortality rates in monarch butterfly caterpillars. Monarch caterpillars consume milkweed plants, not corn, but the fear is that if pollen from B. t. corn is blown by the wind onto milkweed plants in neighboring fields, the caterpillars could eat the pollen and perish. Although the Nature study was not conducted under natural field conditions, the results seemed to support this viewpoint.Unfortunately, B. t. toxins kill many species of insect larvae indiscriminately it is not possible to design a B.t. toxin that would only kill crop-damaging pests and remain harmless to all other insects. This study is be reexamined by the USDA, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other non-government research groups, and preliminary data from new studies suggests that the original study may have been flawed22, 23.This topic is the worst of acrimonious debate, and both sides of the argument are defending their data vigorously. Currently, there is no agreement about the results of these studies, and the potential risk of harm to non-target organisms will need to be evaluated further.Reduced e ffectiveness of pesticidesJust as some populations of mosquitoes developed resistance to the now-banned pesticide DDT, many people are concerned that insects will become resistant to B. t. or other crops that have been genetically-modified to produce their own pesticides. Gene transfer to non-target speciesAnother concern is that crop plants engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds will cross-breed, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide resistance genes from the crops into the weeds. These superweeds would then be herbicide tolerant as well.Other introduced genes may cross over into non-modified crops put next to GM crops. The possibility of hybridise is shown by the defense of farmers against lawsuits filed by Monsanto. The company has filed patent infringement lawsuits against farmers who may have harvested GM crops. Monsanto asserts that the farmers obtained Monsanto-licensed GM seeds from an unknown source and did not pay royalties to Monsanto. The farmers claim that their unmodified crops were cross-pollinated from someone elses GM crops planted a field or two away.More investigation is needed to resolve this issue. There are some(prenominal) possible solutions to the three problems mentioned above. Genes are exchanged between plants via pollen. Two ways to ensure that non-target species will not receive introduced genes from GM plants are to create GM plants that are male sterile (do not produce pollen) or to modify the GM plant so that the pollen does not contain the introduced gene24, 25, 26. Cross-pollination would not occur, and if harmless insects such as monarch caterpillars were to eat pollen from GM plants, the caterpillars would survive.Another possible solution is to create buffer zones around fields of GM crops27, 28, 29. For example, non-GM corn would be planted to surround a field of B. t. GM corn, and the non-GM corn would not be harvested. Beneficial or harmless insects would have a refuge in the non-GM corn, and insect pests could be allowed to destroy the non-GM corn and would not develop resistance to B. t. pesticides. Gene transfer to weeds and other crops would not occur because the wind-blown pollen would not travel beyond the buffer zone.Estimates of the necessary width of buffer zones range from 6 meters to 30 meters or more30. This planting method may not be feasible if excessively much acreage is required for the buffer zones. Human health risks Allergenicity Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. A proposal to incorporate a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of the fear of causing unexpected allergic reactions31.Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies. Labeling of GM foods and food products wi ll acquire new importance, which I shall hash out later. Unknown effects on human healthThere is a emergence concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health. A recent article published in Lancet examined the effects of GM potatoes on the digestive tract in rats32, 33. This study claimed that there were appreciable differences in the intestines of rats fed GM potatoes and rats fed unmodified potatoes.Yet critics say that this paper, like the monarch butterfly data, is flawed and does not hold up to scientific scrutiny34. Moreover, the gene introduced into the potatoes was a snowdrop flower lectin, a substance known to be toxic to mammals. The scientists who created this variety of potato chose to use the lectin gene manifestly to test the methodology, and these potatoes were never intended for human or animal consumption. On the whole, with the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods d o not present a risk to human health.Economic concerns Bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process, and of course agri-biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment. Many new plant genetic engineering technologies and GM plants have been patented, and patent infringement is a big concern of agribusiness. Yet consumer advocates are worried that patenting these new plant varieties will raise the price of seeds so high that small farmers and third world countries will not be able to afford seeds for GM crops, thus widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor.It is hoped that in a humanitarian gesture, more companies and non-profits will follow the lead of the Rockefeller Foundation and offer their products at reduced cost to impoverished nations. Patent enforcement may also be difficult, as the contention of the farmers that they involuntarily grew Monsanto-engineered strains when their crops were cross-pollinated shows. one way to comb at possible patent infringement is to introduce a suicide gene into GM plants. These plants would be viable for only one growing season and would produce sterile seeds that do not germinate.Farmers would need to buy a fresh supply of seeds each year. However, this would be financially disastrous for farmers in third world countries who cannot afford to buy seed each year and traditionally set aside a portion of their harvest to plant in the next growing season. In an open letter to the public, Monsanto has pledged to abandon all research using this suicide gene technology35. How are GM foods regulate and what is the governments role in this process? Governments around the world are hard at work to establish a regulatory process to monitor the effects of and approve new varieties of GM plants.Yet depending on the political, social and economic climate within a region or country, different governments are responding in different ways. In Japan, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has a nnounced that health testing of GM foods will be mandatory as of April 200136, 37. Currently, testing of GM foods is voluntary. Japanese supermarkets are offering both GM foods and unmodified foods, and customers are beginning to show a strong preference for unmodified fruits and vegetables.Indias government has not yet announced a policy on GM foods because no GM crops are grown in India and no products are commercially available in supermarkets yet38. India is, however, very supportive of transgenic plant research. It is highly likely that India will decide that the benefits of GM foods outweigh the risks because Indian agriculture will need to adopt forceful new measures to counteract the countrys endemic poverty and feed its exploding population.Some states in Brazil have banned GM crops entirely, and the Brazilian Institute for the Defense of Consumers, in collaboration with Greenpeace, has filed suit to prevent the importation of GM crops39,. Brazilian farmers, however, have resorted to smuggling GM soybean seeds into the country because they fear economic harm if they are unable to compete in the global marketplace with other grain-exporting countries.