Article Review: Genetically Modified Crops

According to an article in Scientific America, genetically Modified (GM) crops are becoming an important part of worldwide farming with approximately 109 million acres under cultivation (Brown, 2001). However, most of the farmland is in the US (68%) and Argentina (23%), and the most common GM crops are soybean (36%), corn (7%), cotton (16%), and canola (11%). GM varieties are a major proportion of the total production of soybeans (58%) and corn (23%)(James, 2000).

The development and use of GM plants has divided people into 2 groups. One group believes GM plants offer benefits for both increased production of food and fiber, and decreased use of pesticides and herbicides. The opposing group believes GM plants will cause ecological disaster by inadvertently killing beneficial organisms and producing "superweeds" (Brown, 2001).

Much of the debate rests on the perception of safety and both groups feel strongly in their opinions; however, to date there have been few scientific studies to test the ecological impacts or benefits, if any, of these plants. This article discusses the important issues of this debate and presents a review of the results from recent studies on the use of GM plants in the farm setting (Brown, 2001).

The author's methodology in presenting the evidence for this review is to pose four basic questions:

Do GM crops allow the use of smaller amounts or less harmful herbicides and pesticides?,

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g 1999, growers of Bt cotton sprayed 21% less insecticide. However, Bt modified corn and potato crops do not show this large reduction because they need fewer sprayings than cotton (non-GM cotton require 7-14 sprayings per growing season) and the pests fluctuate in number from year to year (brown, 2001). The opponents of GM crops assert that there are actually environmental harms, rather than benefits, from these crops. However, measuring environmental harm of GM crops is even more difficult than measuring possible benefits. Harm to Beneficial Organisms The most alarming claim about GM plants was the allegation that Bt pollen could kill beneficial non-target insects. A 1998 Swiss study of green lacewing caterpillars showed they were more likely to die after eating European corn-borer caterpillars that had eaten Bt corn rather than normal corn, and Dr. John Losey at Cornell found that Monarch butterfly larvae would die if fed milkweed (their primary food source) dusted with Bt corn pollen (Brown, 2001). These experiments, however, were conducted in the laboratory rather than a natural setting. Losey's laboratory experiments had the larvae eating more Bt pollen than would be found in the wild. Researchers are now atte

Category: Science - A