Page 284 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

400 2002

350
Number of unique cases 250 First herbicide-
300

200

150
introduced
100
50 tolerant crops
2012
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Year
(a) Known cases of herbicide resistance

Figure 10.27 Weeds are evolving resistance to herbicides.
Documented cases of herbicide resistance have grown (a) to 400
biotypes involving over 200 species of plants. In just a decade, Glyphosate-resistant species
weed resistance to glyphosate (b) spread across North America.
Data from Heap, I. International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds. June, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2013. www.weedscience.com (b) Spread of glyphosate resistance

environmental impacts without further scientific research. Many essentially forces people to consume biotech products or to go
experts feel we should proceed with caution, adopting the precau- to unusual effort to avoid them.
tionary principle, the idea that one should not undertake a new The perceived lack of control over one’s own food has
action until the ramifications of that action are well understood. driven concern that the global food supply is being dominated
The best efforts so far to scientifically test the ramifica- by a handful of large corporations that develop GM technolo-
tions of GM crops were made in Great Britain. The British gov- gies, among them Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience,
ernment, in considering whether to allow the planting of GM Dow, DuPont, and BASF. Critics say these multinational cor-
crops, commissioned three large-scale studies. The first study porations threaten the independence and well-being of the
found that GM crops could produce long-term economic ben- family farmer, and that government regulators generally side
efits for Britain, although short-term benefits would be minor. with big business rather than small farmers. Critics of bio-
The second study found little to no evidence of harm to human technology also voice concern that much of the research into
health, but noted that effects on wildlife and ecosystems should the safety of GM organisms is funded, conducted, or influ-
be tested before crops are approved. The third study (involv- enced by the corporations that stand to benefit if their prod-
ing 19 researchers, 200 sites, and $8 million in funding) tested ucts are approved. CHAPTER 10 • A g R i C ulT u RE , Bi o TECH nology, A nd THE Fu T u RE o F Food
effects on bird and invertebrate populations from four GM GM sugar beets provide an example of how the approval
crops modified for herbicide resistance. Results showed that process often plays out. After USDA regulators approved
fields of GM beets and GM spring oilseed rape supported less Monsanto’s Roundup-Ready sugar beets, they were intro-
biodiversity than fields of their non-GM counterparts. Fields duced in 2008. The Center for Food Safety, a watchdog
of GM maize supported more, however, and fields of winter organization, brought a lawsuit arguing that the USDA
oilseed rape showed mixed results. Policymakers had hoped had not performed a full environmental impact statement
that this study would end all debate, but the science showed (EIS; p. 174), and in 2010 a judge agreed and revoked the
that the impacts of GM crops are complex. USDA’s approval. However, in the meantime the Roundup-
Ready sugar beet had swept the market; 95% of the sugar
Public debate over GM foods continues beets grown in America were now this variety, and half the
white sugar on U.S. grocery store shelves came from GM
Science helps inform us about genetic engineering, but ethical sugar beets. In 2012 the USDA released a full EIS. The
and economic concerns have largely driven the public debate. EIS admitted that non-GM beets could be contaminated
For many people, the idea of “tinkering” with the food sup- by GM pollen and that weeds were likely to evolve resist-
ply seems dangerous or morally wrong. Because every person ance to the herbicide, yet it still argued for full deregula-
relies on food for survival and cannot choose not to eat, the tion, allowing GM sugar beets to be planted without any
genetic modification of dietary staples such as corn and rice restrictions. 283

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