Wow the first 13 years!
Check this out
The Organic Center Critical Issue Report Page
November 2009 The First Thirteen Years
http://www.organic-center.org/reportfiles/GE13YearsReport.pdf
The 69 page report details RR technology, weed resistance, Bt toxins and gene stacking development.
This has to be one of the most extensive compilations I have seen in one place.
Probably just one of those inconclusive studys that you always hear about
Slightly dated it is 4 years old now
I can hardly wait for the sequel
Just some quick excerpts....
"This report explores the impact of the adoption of genetically engineered (GE) corn, soybean, and cotton on pesticide use in the United States, drawing principally on data from the United States Department of Agriculture. The most striking finding is that GE crops have been responsible for an increase of 383 million pounds of herbicide use in the U.S. over the first 13 years of commercial use of GE crops"
"This dramatic increase in the volume of herbicides applied swamps the decrease in insecticide use attributable to GE corn and cotton, making the overall chemical footprint of todays GE crops decidedly negative. The report identifies, and discusses in detail, the primary cause of the increase -- the emergence of herbicide-resistant weeds."
"In the 1996 Consumers Union book Pest Management at the Crossroads "special caution" in managing GE crops was highlighted. After discussing the possibility that gene flow could create super HT weeds, the report warns that more widespread concern with herbicide tolerant plants is the likelihood they will accelerate the emergence of resistant weed species"
"Glyphosate was first introduced in 1974, and for the next 22 years there were no confirmed reports of GR weeds. The vast majority of GR weed populations have emerged in RR cropping systems since the year 2000. Beginning in the year 2000 in Delaware, GR marestail (horseweed) rapidly emerged in RR soybeans and cotton in the East and South. Less than a decade later, GR biotypes of nine species are now found in the U.S., and infest millions of acres of cropland in at least 22 states."
"The sheer scope of introduction of GR crops has fostered such unprecedented reliance on a single chemical for weed control that one leading one expert has remarked that glyphosate is as important to world agriculture as penicillin is to human health." This extreme reliance makes the threat of GR weeds far more menacing than herbicide-resistant weeds of the past. Unless steps are taken to break the underlying ecological conditions favoring the selection and spread of resistant weeds, this vicious circle will grind through the list of registered herbicide products until there are no longer any economically viable herbicide-based options."
Resistance Management Still Key in Sustaining Bt Crop Efficacy
"The industry has also asked for reduced resistance management requirements for corn hybrids expressing Bt for control of the CRW, an insect notorious for its ability to develop resistance. "
"Scientists convened by the EPA to assess future CRW resistance management plans questioned the science supporting such requests by industry"
"Bt liquid sprays are applied only when and as needed, consistent with the core principles of IPM.
"Bt plants, however, produce the toxin continuously during the growing season, not just when needed, and in nearly all plant tissues, not just where the toxins are needed to control attacking insects. In a year with low pest pressure, farmers can decide not to spray insecticides on a corn field, but they cannot stop Bt hybrids from manufacturing Bt toxins in nearly all plant cells."
"Moreover, from a food safety perspective, Bt toxins in liquid sprays break down relatively quickly in the field when exposed to sunlight and hence do not end up in the harvested portion of crops. Bt toxins in GE plants are inside plant cells, including the cells of the harvested portion of the crop fed to animals or consumed by people."
Stacking...
"Understood Risks here has been virtually no independent field research on the ecological and food safety implications when widely planted Bt corn varieties are simultaneously expressing two, three, or six Bt toxins. Current USDA and EPA approvals are based on the assumption that multiple genes producing different Bt toxins in corn plants will operate exactly as they do in varieties engineered to produce just a single Bt toxin."
