One of the fundamental claims of the genetic engineering (GE) industry – that their soya crops need less herbicides than conventional varieties – has been seriously challenged by a new independent
report(1). Previously unreleased data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) prove that on average 11.4% more herbicides are used on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready (RR) soya, than on conventional soya. In many cases the increase was up to 30%.
The report by Dr Charles Benbrook, of the US Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, accuses Monsanto of manipulating comparative data on herbicide use on its RR soya and conventional soya beans in a misleading way. Monsanto has not explained that the traditional varieties were a selected number of ‘old generation’ types, which require high-dose rate herbicides. ‘... the evidence is clear: far from improving the state of the environment by using less herbicides as the GE industry claims, the GE crops are causing even more pollution,’ said Geert Ritsema, Genetic Engineering Campaigner for
Greenpeace(2).
The report warns that various weeds are developing increased resistance to glyphosate, the main herbicide used on RR soya. Dr Benbrook estimates that the widespread cultivation of the GE soya beans could lead farmers to spray an additional 20 million pounds of herbicides on their crops.
The report also states that university research trials suggest that Monsanto’s GE soya yields 5-10% less than similar conventional soya varieties.
‘This study confirms that genetic engineering of farm crops means more chemicals in our environment. The likes of GE Roundup Ready soya have caused a stagnation in the development of environmentally sound agricultural practices and forced farmers to still rely on herbicide dependent systems,’ Ritsema said.
1. Charles Benbrook, Troubled Times Amid Commercial Success for Roundup Ready Soybeans, www.biotech-info.net/troubledtimes.html.
2. Greenpeace press release, 4 May 2001.
[This article first appeared in
Pesticides News No. 52, June 2001, page 17]