Welcome to class of Role of Genetically-Modified (GM) Foods in Emerging Markets Dr. Satyendra Singh Professor, Marketing and International Business University of Winnipeg Canada s.singh@uwinnipeg.ca http://abem.uwinnipeg.ca

What are GM Foods? Crops created for human/animal consumption using the molecular biology technique to get desired traits such as:

Role of GM Foods in EMs Very important for developing countries/EMs By 2050pop. 9b  food strategy for next 20 yrs Need more food, as such hunger and starvation 3m deaths/year in Africa solely relating to hunger 3 options: aid/food, money/funds, provide GM foods GM foods: Rapid, accurate,↑ yield, ↓labor, ↑shelf-life

GM Birds/Animals http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTXTZ7A#a=1

Disease cure vs designer babies http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTXTZ7A#a=1

Advantages of GM Foods… Pest resistance Crop loss due to insets  financial loss to farmers So, farmers use tons of pesticides/fertilizers annually GM eliminates pesticides and thus ↓ cost of production Disease resistance Viruses, fungi, bacteria  plant diseases GM crops resistance to these diseases Cold resistance Frost can destroy sensitive seedlings Antifreeze gene from cold fish  tobacco and potatoes

Advantages of GM Foods Drought resistance Nutrition Pharmaceuticals More population  ↑ land for housing, ↓ land for farming Land unsuited for plant cultivation  Africa, dessert GM crops  grow in draughts or ↑ salt-content soil Nutrition Single crop (rice) cannot give all the nutrition needed Lack vitamin A  blindness  common in EMs GM food: golden rice has Vitamin A (beta-carotene) GM food: with enhanced iron is underway, Europe? Pharmaceuticals Edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes Easier to ship, store, administer than traditional injections

Criticism of GM Organism/Foods…

Criticism of GM Organism/Foods

Criticism of GM Foods… Environmental hazards Solution Unintended harm to other organism Difficult to design toxin  kills crop-damaging pests, not other insects Reduced effectiveness of pesticides Develops resistance  DDT Gene transfer to non-target species Cross-breeding Transfer of herbicide resistance from crops to weeds The “superweeds” will then have herbicide tolerance as well Solution Create buffer zone Enviro pigs  they do not produce phosphates!

Criticism of GM Foods… Human health risks Allergenicity We already have allergies to peanuts and other foods… Introducing gene may create more allergies Unknown effects on human health However, proposal to introduce a gene from Brazil nuts into Soyabeans was abandoned On the whole, with the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods do not present a risk to human health!

Criticism of GM Foods Economic concerns Lengthy and costly process May be patented Monsanto, Novartis, Dow, DuPont hold patents for GM crops Make substantial profit by exporting it to EMs Farmers from developing countries/EM cannot afford More gap between rich and poor Other invention  discouraged/stopped Suicide gene technology Only one growing per season Next time would produce sterile seeds that do not germinate

Governments and GM Foods… 2009: 25 countries

Governments and GM Foods Europe: Anti-GM protests (Austria, France, Hungary) Japan: GM testing is mandatory. Customers for organic USA: FDA  GM foods are substantially equivalent to natural food, so not subject to FDA regulations GRAS  Generally Recognized As Safe India: No policy yet  for GM  ↓ poverty Brazil: Some states have banned GM crops ↑Smuggle to compete with grain-exporting countries Africa: EU opposes the use of GM in Africa S. Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe have GM laws; Kenya Act  2009 Argentina: Very pro-GM New Zealand: NO GM Foods grown here!

GM Food Labeling No need to label  same wrt to nutrition Europe and Japan  Mandatory 1% contamination of unmodified products with GM foods Consumers have the right the know the information Let consumers decide  but no choice Reduced sales, so processors do not sell GM foods EU has disguised policy of protectionism Canada and US  Voluntary Mandatory for Non-GM foods Let consumers decide  more choices

Traditional International Entry Mode Strategy

Multi-Mode international Entry Strategy for GM Crops