Genetically Modified Food Aid: Context and Consequences

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Alcock, Frank

Keywords

Genetically Modified Organism, U.S. Food Aid, P. L. 480, Donor Interest, GMOs

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

The recent rise of the US as the world's major producer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) creates new and important implications for the national aid program and its recipients, making it critical to revisit the "old" assumptions of US food aid as self-interested. The role of GMOs in affecting food aid policy has not been addressed by much of the existing literature, a serious shortcoming when one considers that the practice of using GM crops as aid is already widespread; each year the US delivers an estimated 3.5 million tons of GM food aid worldwide. In this paper I provide background and analysis of the US's food aid programs in the era of agricultural biotechnology. I outline the ways in which US aid agencies and the biotechnology industry have used food aid to advance their strategic interests. In doing so, I posit that political debates over the application of GMOs and related technologies, as well as economic factors tied to the market for genetically modified crops, are particularly relevant to current debates on food aid. I conclude with several policy recommendations for US food aid in the era of agricultural biotechnology.

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