GM crops increasing pesticide use in US, new report

Genetically Engineered Crops Now Increasing Pesticide Use in the
United States

The planting of 550 million acres of genetically engineered (GE) corn,
soybeans and cotton in the United States since 1996 has increased
pesticide use by about 50 million pounds, according to a report
released today by the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy
Center. The report is the first comprehensive study of the impacts of
all major commercial GE crops on pesticide use in the United States
over the first eight years of commercial use, 1996-2003. It draws on
official U.S.  Department of Agriculture data on pesticide use by crop
and state. The report is entitled "Impacts of Genetically Engineered
Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Eight Years,"
and is the sixth in a series of "Technical Papers" prepared for Ag
BioTech InfoNet. It is being  published today via the Internet (hard
copies will not be provided, but can be printed for free from the
website).

The report calculates the difference between the average pounds of
pesticides applied on acres planted to GE crops compared to the pounds
applied to otherwise similar conventional crops. In their first three
years of commercial sales (1996-1998), GE crops reduced pesticide use
by about 25.4 million pounds, but in the last three years (2001-2003),
over 73 million more pounds of pesticides were applied on GE acres.

Substantial increases in herbicide use on "Herbicide Tolerant" (HT)
crops, especially soybeans, accounted for the increase in pesticide
use on GE acres compared to acres planted to conventional plant
varieties. Many farmers have had to spray incrementally more
herbicides on GE acres in order to keep up with shifts in weeds toward
tougher-to-control species, coupled with the emergence of genetic
resistance in certain weed populations.

"For years weed scientists have warned that heavy reliance on
herbicide tolerant crops would trigger ecological changes in farm
fields that would incrementally erode the technology's effectiveness.
It now appears that this process began in 2001 in the United States in
the case of herbicide tolerant crops," according to Benbrook.

The report concludes that the other major category of GE crops, corn
and cotton engineered to produce the natural insecticide Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) in plant cells, continues to reduce insecticide use
by 2 million to 2.5 million pounds annually. The increase in herbicide
use on HT crop acres, however, far exceeds the modest reductions in
insecticide use on acres planted to Bt crops, especially since 2001.

The 46-page report is posted on Ag BioTech InfoNet at

http://wwww.biotech-info.net/technicalpaper6.html