Final Exam Question, Bio 4, 08S

Rules:

In compliance with the Dartmouth honor principle, all the work you hand in on this paper is to be your own.

For this paper, your answer should be a maximum of 6 printed pages (this is a limit not a goal) -- anything beyond six pages will be ignored. A page is defined as an 8.5" x 11" sheet with one inch margins. The font should be 11 point Times New Roman (or larger) and text should be double spaced. The bibliography (and any figures you might have) should be at the end of the paper and will not count towards the page limit. You can cite references in the body of the text using numbers as described in the defined format page.

This exam is open book. You can use your notes, the web, the library, newspapers, etc. You cannot talk to others about your answer, though -- the work you hand in must be entirely your own.

There is a defined format to be followed for the paper.

Good luck.

Please be sure to provide a title for your essay. You should address the general issues raised and not necessarily focus on answering the specific items that are mentioned (although you certainly can address them). They are provided to help you understand some of the issues that need to be addressed. The question you should address is in red.

One of the goals of agricultural biotechnology is that of creating a strain of wheat that can grow in drier climates. This would allow currently non-arable areas of the globe to be used for crop growth and food production. The increased food production will help feed millions of starving humans. There are several complex issues involved, however. If the new strain of wheat (let's call it superwheat) is developed by a company, that company will need to recoup its development costs and will have to charge a fairly high price for the seed. This might put it out of the reach of small farmers – exactly the kind of farmer who lives in semi-arable climates in many third world countries. On the other hand, the company that develops the new superwheat has a right to recoup its development costs (and make a profit?) -- if they could not do so, the superwheat would never be developed. Despite the human misery that might be alleviated by superwheat, someone has to pay for its development and production (people need to earn a living as scientists, administrators, distributors, truckers, shippers, carton manufacturers, etc.). Revenue might come from many different sources: from taxes in the "developer" country, from taxes in the recipient country, from new farm cooperatives in the third world countries (what happens to the single farmer?), from the UN (but who pays the UN?), and from many other possible mechanisms.

Discuss how you would address this problem of revenue and discuss the moral and ethical issues involved in you decision.