Reference no: EM133292921

About 30 - 40 years ago, a terrible typhoon (what they call hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean) hit Bangledesh and killed thousands of people living in the low-lying delta regions of that country where the rivers run into the Indian Ocean. An editorial in the journal "Science" wrote that the typhoon did not kill all those people. Instead, it was overpopulation because that was the reason they had to live in the low-lying delta regions susceptible to high tides and waves caused by typhoons. We also know today that China has had a one-child per family policy for many years to hold down its swelling population. We do not seem to worry about overpopulation today in this country as much as we did 30 - 40 years ago. Why do you think that is so? Is there a concern about the earth becoming overpopulated? Moreover, what role do you think we in the United States should play in helping to feed the world when we have people in this nation going to bed hungry? Is there a technological fix for this program in the "green revolution" with genetically engineered plants? If we can genetically design a plant with a gene that produces a product that kills the pest that we now use toxic pesticides to control, is that not a good thing? However, we have in this country, as well as in other nations, reluctance to eat foods from genetically engineered plants. So, what is the answer, and maybe the question should be, is there an answer? Do we continue to grow in number without attempting to control our birth rate, especially in light of growing concern about genetically engineered food? Does this not pose a risk for the survival of the human species? Moreover, you may recall that the discussion question before this one asked how we felt about increasing the life span with quality for humans. Many of you were concerned that if we did double or triple the human life span, we would not have room for people and that there would be social and political upheaval due to overpopulation. If the life span would be able to be doubled or tripled with quality of life preserved, would there also have to be some form of population control put in place in this country also?