By Wylie Harris
Witchita Falls Times Record News
December 2003
Your article on Monsanto's genetically-modified (GM) wheat ("Hot debate over biotech wheat," Dec. 13) mentioned the common claim that herbicide-tolerant GM crops result in reduced use of toxic pesticides. But according to a 2003 study from AgBioTech InfoNet, exactly the opposite is true. Using USDA data, the study examined pesticide use on GM crops during the 8 years since their first commercial adoption in the U.S. For the first three years, pesticide use was indeed lower on herbicide-tolerant GM crops than on conventional crops. But since then, with pests developing resistance and pesticide costs dropping, farmers have used more pesticides on GM than conventional crops, and the difference keeps getting bigger. Herbicide-tolerant GM crops now receive more than half of the herbicides applied each year, even though they are planted on less than half of the total acreage.
GM crops are causing us to spread more, not less, poison on our soils, water, and food. With all the other question marks surrounding them, GM crops seem like a good idea only to the companies that can turn a profit selling them.
(The AgBioTech InfoNet report is available online at http://www.biotech-info.net/Technical_Paper_6.pdf)