[compost_tea] Fwd: Re: PANUPS: GE Crops Use More Pesticides

From: Robert Norsen <bnbrew_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 23:58:22 -0800 (PST)



Robert Norsen <bob_at_bnbrew.com> wrote:Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 23:29:04 -0800 (PST)
From: Robert Norsen
Subject: Re: PANUPS: GE Crops Use More Pesticides
To: panna_at_panna.org

Read the PANUPS mesage below first.
PANUP Readers and all who are interessted in agricultue, health and economics: The need for added pesticides follows GE plants naturally. The herbicide effect / action of the GE crops just as do chemically applied hericides, damages the natural protective microbiology in healthy soil. The reduction from normal microbe population exposes the GE crops to higher infestation of plant pathogens and insects. Thus the GE crops need the protection of more chemical poisons. This will further erode the natural and essential soil microbe life. Plants will need more pesticides, more fertilizers and will produce lower grade food quality and eventually lower production. Soil will become more suseptable to errosion by wind and water and will require more irrigation. The chemical companies will prosper until the farmers can no longer stay in farming. At that point taxpayers will take on the added cost and family farms will be no more.
 
No doubt another GE development will produce an insecticide producing plant and blow that onto the planet, killing the rest of the essential life in the soil.
   
Chemical companies and pharmacuetical companies will become an even larger part and menace to our health, economy and way of life. GE plants will be hard to suck back off the planet. Who can unring a bell? Did our all knowing USDA consider this among the many other defects in GE plant development? What do you think, Elaine? CAn we get Compost and Compost TEA soon enough? Bob Now go to IAHF to read the REST OF THE STORY. Who are the real terrorists?

PANUPS <panupdates_at_panna.org> wrote:
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P A N U P S
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
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GE Crops Use More Pesticides

January 9, 2004

A November 2003 study of levels of pesticide use on genetically engineered (GE) corn, soybeans and cotton in the U.S. reports that these GE varieties have resulted in the application of more pesticides. While use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenic varieties have reduced pesticide use by an estimated 19.6 million pounds in the past eight years, herbicide tolerant crops have been responsible for the application of an estimated 70 million additional pounds of pesticides. Overall, the report concludes that GE crops have caused 50 million additional pounds of pesticides to be used in U.S. agriculture.

The first comprehensive study of the impacts of all major commercial GE crops on pesticide use in the U.S., "Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Eight Years," draws on official U.S. Department of Agriculture data on pesticide use by crop and state to calculate the difference between the average pounds of pesticides applied on the 550 million acres planted to GE crops compared to the pounds applied to similar conventional crops. The study results directly contradict industry claims that GE technology has markedly reduced pesticide use.

In 1996 to 1998, during their first three years of commercial sales, GE crops appear to have reduced pesticide use by about 25.4 million pounds. But in the last three years, 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.

Herbicide tolerant (HT) crops allow farmers to spray broad-spectrum herbicides over the top of growing plants, controlling weeds while leaving crops unharmed. Despite the increased costs of GE seeds, herbicide tolerant crops have become less expensive as the price of herbicides containing glyphosate has fallen by half, from around $12.00 per acre when HT crops were first introduced to less than $6.00 per acre today.

The report finds that many farmers need 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 U.S. in the case of herbicide tolerant crops," said Dr. Charles Benbrook, author of the report.

The other major category of GE crops, corn and cotton engineered to produce the natural insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in plant cells, has reduced insecticide use by 2 million to 2.5 million pounds annually. This reduction represents 7% of the total U.S. insecticide use on these two crops. The report notes that the increase in herbicide use on HT crop acres, however, far exceeds the modest reductions of insecticides on acres planted to Bt crops, especially since 2001.

Published by the Northwest Science Environmental Policy Center, the report received support from a number of organizations concerned about the impacts of GE crops on the environment and human health. Dr. Benbrook, Executive Director of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center in Sandpoint, Idaho, was formerly with the National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture.

The full report is available on Ag BioTech InfoNet website at http://www.biotech-info.net/technicalpaper6.html.

Sources: Press Release, Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, November 25, 2003, http://www.biotech-info.net/technicalpaper6.html.

Contact: Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, phone 208-263-5236, email benbrook_at_hillnet.com; PANNA.

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit http://www.panna.org/donate.

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Received on Sat Jan 10 2004 - 11:18:29 EST

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