Genetically modified (GM) crops have led to a large increase in pesticide use and have failed to increase yield or tackle world hunger and poverty, according to a report being released tomorrow.
The report coincides with the annual release of biotech industry figures on GM crop cultivation around the world and was produced by Friends of the Earth and Center for Food Safety reveals today.
"For years, the biotech industry has been trumpeting the benefits of GM crops, but this report shows the true emerging picture," added Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. "These crops really promote greater use of pesticides, and cause direct harm to the environment and small farmers. More and more, foundations and international aid and development organizations are recognizing the dead end that GM crops represent."
The report, "Who Benefits from GM Crops?: The Rise in Pesticide Use," states that GM crops do not tackle hunger or poverty, in part, because they are primarily used to feed animals in rich countries rather than people in poorer nations.
For example, the report says South America’s expanding GM soybean plantations produce soy meal for Europe’s livestock industry, reducing food security by displacing poor farmers and decreasing land area planted to food crops like corn and beans for local consumption.
The report also opposes GM industry claims that genetically-modified cotton (Bt cotton) has boosted cotton yields and increased small farmers’ income. In South Africa’s Makhatini Flats, portrayed internationally as the "success story" demonstrating the benefits of GM cotton, the number of small cotton growers has plummeted from 3229 in 2001-2002 to just 853 in 2006-2007, according to the report.
The report states that not a single GM crop on the market is engineered for enhanced nutrition, increased yield potential, drought-tolerance, or other attractive traits touted by the biotech industry.
INstead GM crops are designed to allow increased pesticide use, fostering the spread of resistant "superweeds," the report says, noting that four of every five acres of GM crops worldwide are Monsanto’s Roundup Ready varieties. These are designed specifically for use with glyphosate, the weed-killing chemical that Monsanto sells under the name of Roundup.
According to the report, U.S. government data reveals a 15-fold increase in the use of glyphosate on soybeans, corn and cotton in the U.S. from 1994 to 2005, driven by adoption of Roundup Ready versions of these crops.
Rising glyphosate use has spawned a growing epidemic of weeds resistant to the chemical in the U.S., Argentina and Brazil. Weed scientists have reported glyphosate-resistant weeds infesting 2.4 million acres in the U.S. alone.
Increasing weed resistance to glyphosate has led to rising use of other toxic chemicals. In the U.S., the amount of 2,4-D applied to soybeans more than doubled from 2002 to 2006. 2,4-D was a component of the Vietnam War defoliant, Agent Orange. In Argentina, it is projected that 25 million liters of herbicides other than glyphosate will be needed to tackle glyphosate-resistant Johnsongrass.
The report concludes that GM crops do not yield more and often yield less than other crops, and that they benefit only the biotech industry and some large growers, not small farmers.
"The biotech industry tells Africans that we need GM crops to tackle the food needs of our population. But the majority of GM crops are used to feed animals in rich countries, to produce damaging agrofuels, and don’t even yield more than conventional crops," said Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth International’s GMO coordinator in Nigeria.
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