Genetically Engineered Food, Food Security, and Climate Change

Malnutrition is the leading cause of death and disease worldwide. Climate change is an existential crisis. We need to feed people and address the role of agriculture in climate change – at the same time. This is problematic, as agriculture inherently creates issues that contributes to climate change. Utilizing science, through genetically engineered crops, is one way to close the harm gap between food security and climate change. This essay addresses the controversial issue of genetically engineered crops with the complicated issues of food security and cli-mate change by analyzing three main issues: (1) how the science of genetically engineered crops can improve food security and lessen the impact of agriculture on climate change; (2) international regulation of genetically engineered crops; and (3) consumer misperception of risk as it relates to genetically engineered crops. In sum, this article tackles the complicated problem of genetically engineered food as it relates to food security and climate change. This essay is forward thinking as it promotes closing the divide between consumer misperception of risk and evidence-based assessment of risk to allow science to improve our food supply and decrease the impact on the planet