genetic engineering of crops 2

www.wwgfa.net Genetic engineering revolution has nothing to do with feeding the world’s hungry. The plain fact is that fully two-thirds of the genetically engineered crops now available, or in development, are designed specifically to increase the sale of pesticides produced by the companies that are selling the genetically engineered seeds. A good example of this are Monsanto’s round up ready crops. Monsanto’s patent on Rounup runs out in the year 2000, but any farmer who adopts Roundup Ready seeds must agree to buy only Monsanto’s brand of Roundup herbicide. The farmer gains a $20 per acre cost-saving (compared to older techniques that relied on lesser quantities of more expensive chemicals), but the ecosystem receives much more Roundup than formerly. To make Roundup Ready Technology legal, the US Evironmental Protection Agency had to accommodate Monsanto by tripling the allowable residues of Roundup that can remain on the crop. This increase of chemicals used on crops can lead to the development of resistance in insect pests, and knock on effects to the wider ecosystem. It is possible that resistance will reach such a level that these chemicals which world farming rely on will become useless.