Abstract

Today the world’s population is over 6.8 billion and it is projected to reach 9.5 billion by 2050. This will increase demand for food, cotton, fuel, medicine, housing materials and other goods by at least 150%. The increased population will decrease availability of land for farming, housing, transportation and recreation. In addition, global warming will increase salinity, decrease fresh water resources, and reduce farm lands, and thus decrease food production. Increased human activity will pollute the environment, negatively affecting life and human health. Run-off insecticides, fertilizer, sewage and urban pollution may change much of the environment, making it unsustainable for life. It is imperative that sustainability measures be implemented now to help accommodate increased human populations. Biotechnology, on the other hand, has already demonstrated that it has the tools to develop insect resistant crops for food and fiber, avoiding pollution from harmful insecticides and fertilizers. It can transfer specific characteristics across species boundaries to obtain desired traits in bacteria, protists, fungi, plants and animals. Thus, it can develop crops with genes for nitrogen fixing, salt tolerance, nutrition enrichment, and high yields. These techniques can generate fish to grow many times faster without affecting their natural appearance and to spawn multiple times on demand. It can produce nutritionally balanced low fat chicken and eggs rich in omega-3 fatty acids and milk from cattle containing antibodies and other biologics, as appropriate. These techniques have the ability to develop pollutant clarifying organisms and replenishable biofuel. Similarly, these techniques allow us to produce new antibiotics, vaccines, hormones, neurotransmitters and other biologics that would be impossible or difficult to obtain otherwise. Thus, the appropriate application of biotechnology will be able to increase, both in quality and quantity, the production of food, cotton, medicine, wood, fuel, and agents for environmental clean-up and thus reduce pollution while conserving and sustaining life as well as the environment. It is extremely important that planning for the expanded use of biotechnological techniques be explored now to prepare for future challenges.