Breeding “CRISPR” Crops1

Abstract

The challenges which face the world today can be summed up in a few words: An increasingly congested world with dwindling areas of viable cultivated land and accelerating climate instability. The combined effect of these realities, together with the trend of striving to extend the average human life, puts the world on the path toward future catastrophe. This situation makes it imperative to seek realistic and practical solutions, which must be able to address food shortages and climate problems in a timely manner. In this article, an elucidative argument is presented with the intention of revealing the need for humanity to step back and consider more objectively the long-term benefits of crop-genome-editing for food security, looking beyond the unfounded negative notions about safety issues. If the faulty interpretations and arguments, which claim the CRISPR/Cas technology as being just another undesirable form of crop genetic modification stay unchallenged, they will continue to becloud the minds of decision makers and the public at large with inaccurate information. Eventually, the technology will be dismissed as a mere academic exercise with little or no benefit to future generations. 1 In loving memory of my beloved wife, Jean Georges.