Image from http://www.aboutxinjiang.com/
Brief summary:
1. The focus this week was on the Biomedical BioBusiness, Agri-Veterinary and Food BioBusiness, and the Environmental and Industrial BioBusiness.
2. “When we are able to grow the resources we need, only then will we be on the way towards sustainability.”
We watched a video on Biotechnology crops, which told us of the numerous benefits of Biotechnology- for instance, the avoidance of crop disease, coping with drought, and more efficient use of water. This to me was symbolic of one of the great innovations of humans- that not only improves the current quality of our life, but also aids the situation (food shortage) in developing countries (by lowering the cost of food significantly).
3. Some everyday frontiers of biotechnology: Cheese, enzymes, yoghurt, food preservatives, beer, the kiwi fruit(!), tomato ketchup(really?!), etc. I was enlightened how biotechnology was so pervasive in our modern lives, and how reliant we are on it. There have been some fears about biotechnology- that they may possibly develop deadly strains of virus in the future; threatening to be a medium for such new epidemics to spread. Such fears are understandable, thus, some countries require companies to label Genetically Modified food, so that consumers are fairly informed on their food choices.
4. Food Security - It is a condition where all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. One of the presentations suggested that a particular innovation, “Plumpy Nut” can help to address this issue. Whether a society is able to achieve Food Security relies on two issues: whether it is able to afford such food, and whether there is infrastructure present to facilitate the distribution of such food to the masses. Again, in the cases of poorer countries, this highlights the importance of good governance in managing the given funds and ensuring that they are being in a non-corrupt, efficient manner for the good of the public.
Interesting observations & ideas:
1. The “Malthusian Nightmare” – It was a prediction that society would be forced to return to subsistence-level conditions once population growth had outpaced agricultural production. (above is a picture depicting this concept)
However, it did not come to pass: Our innovations e.g. Industrial Revolution enabled society to break out of the Malthusian Trap. Improvements in agricultural production methods have increased productivity levels, believe that as long as people are educated and have economic freedom, the world will be able to increase production as such ventures remain profitable.
2. Shift from Farmer to “Farmist” – in that Farmists are becoming more specialized in their industry, and take advantage of new technology to increase quality and efficiency.
3. Making food from POO! Prof told us about a certain innovation, which was able to create high-protein consumables from human waste. However, this business venture failed in the commercialization of their product, as people could not get quite comfortable with the idea of eating their own poo. (I shall elaborate more on this in the section below)
Issues for further discussion:
Would you be comfortable with eating a derivative of your own waste? Well, it may seem utterly disgusting now but as Prof humorously pointed out, we currently do drink NEWater.
I then asked Prof if such food was expensive. The answer was that it is cheap – since waste is all you need.
Could such a technology be used for countries which are facing food shortages? I suggested that this could be provided as an option of food, especially since it was high in protein and low cost. This would potentially enrich the thousands of malnourished bodies and even save some from the deadly plight of starvation.
However, Prof raised some moral issues about doing this: Was it respecting their human dignity by giving them something that we ourselves would not like? He shared that as a practioner, he often told himself to only give a treatment to a patient a treatment he they would give to a loved one.
However, after further thought on this, I feel that this is perhaps not as bad as it seems. If one of my loved ones was in a life-threatening situation, I would be desperate to rectify the problem. It is this very desperation that would drive me to want to solve the problem in almost any way that is possible. I guess that this was initially a question of Ethics vs Practicality, but when the situation is dire, I feel that it’s the care for the ultimate well-being for these people that would lead me to the view that “the ends justifies the means”.
Could this be another case of our human mindset limiting technological innovation? Our unease with such innovations is primarily a product of societal norms which we have been brought up with. Perhaps sometimes the greatest hurdle is ourselves.
Key takeaways:
1. Technological innovations in the sphere of BioBusiness have historically disrupted our traditional concepts of food, and they continue to do so.
2. Such technology can be used to the ends of solving World issues
3. What’s next? The possibilities of the future may only be bound by our perception on things. Sometimes, it is necessary to radically dissociate ourselves from prejudices and common expectations to discover or lead a change that is truly world-changing.
My ratings for this lesson
7/10. The presentations were informative and interesting. However, I wish we could spend more time on how governments are currently doing the balancing act in prioritizing; analyzing the decision-making process.
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