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Saturday, July 29, 2006 |
Independent: "One of the major arguments in favour of growing GM crops has been undermined by a study showing that the benefits are short-lived because farmers quickly resort to spraying their fields with harmful pesticides.
Supporters of genetically modified crops claim the technique saves money and provides environmental benefits because farmers need to spray their fields fewer times with chemicals.
However, a detailed survey of 481 cotton growers in China found that, although they did use fewer pesticides in the first few years of adopting GM plants, after seven years they had to use just as much pesticide as they did with conventional crops."
So after a few years the cotton growers would have to buy newly developed gm cotton plants. This looks like the same problem we have with antibiotics which become useless as the resistance against them grows.
And I wouldn't put it past biotechnology firms to develop gm plants and seeds that only have their ability to produce seeds modified, i.e. removed. So that farmers would be forced to buy new seeds each year, with no possibility to harvest their own seeds. The key word is 'profits'.
11:30:50 AM 
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© Copyright 2006 Hetty Litjens.
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