General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDoubts About the Promised Bounty of Genetically Modified Crops - New York Times
An analysis by The Times using United Nations data showed that the United States and Canada have gained no discernible advantage in yields food per acre when measured against Western Europe, a region with comparably modernized agricultural producers like France and Germany. Also, a recent National Academy of Sciences report found that there was little evidence that the introduction of genetically modified crops in the United States had led to yield gains beyond those seen in conventional crops.
At the same time, herbicide use has increased in the United States, even as major crops like corn, soybeans and cotton have been converted to modified varieties. And the United States has fallen behind Europes biggest producer, France, in reducing the overall use of pesticides, which includes both herbicides and insecticides.
One measure, contained in data from the United States Geological Survey, shows the stark difference in the use of pesticides. Since genetically modified crops were introduced in the United States two decades ago for crops like corn, cotton and soybeans, the use of toxins that kill insects and fungi has fallen by a third, but the spraying of herbicides, which are used in much higher volumes, has risen by 21 percent.
By contrast, in France, use of insecticides and fungicides has fallen by a far greater percentage 65 percent and herbicide use has decreased as well, by 36 percent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/business/gmo-promise-falls-short.html?_r=1

enough
(13,495 posts)womanofthehills
(9,460 posts)Monsanto will feed the world. (nt)
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Right out of the Republican-style playbook.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Wow. A well-deserved double ass-kick for the GMO multinational Citizens United, Inc. and their mutant industrialization of nature.
http://sustainablepulse.com/2015/06/16/pope-francis-slams-gmos-and-pesticides-for-environmental-and-social-damage/#.WBYNrDKZNgc
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Well over 80% of GMO crops suck up glyphosate, and then deliver residue of the weed killer into just about everything industrial food product or beverage you consume.
The chemical-GMO corporate combine keeps claiming that's cool - no problem to have your body tissues tainted with the weed killer. But their "claims" continue to be the subject of well-deserved controversy:
Oct. 25, 2016
Science Committee Chair: EPA Gave Misleading Testimony on Herbicide Study
House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) on Tuesday accused Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy of giving misleading testimony on an international study on the safety of the widely used herbicide glyphosate.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer released a report in March 2015 saying glyphosate is probably carcinogenic. Other international organizations, including the United Nations and World Health Organization, have published reports that conflict with IARCs findings. In September, the EPA published a paper that said glyphosate is probably not carcinogenic and scheduled a Scientific Advisory Panel meeting for Oct. 18-21. Then, a few days ahead of the meeting, the agency postponed it for later this year...
...In light of these contradictions, recent actions taken by EPA to further delay the Science Advisory Panel review for glyphosate do not instill confidence that EPA will fairly assess glyphosate based on sound science, Smith wrote in the letter to McCarthy.
https://morningconsult.com/alert/science-committee-chair-epa-gave-misleading-testimony-herbicide-study/
womanofthehills
(9,460 posts)http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carey-gillam/fda-finds-monsantos-weed_b_12008680.html
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)
airplaneman
(1,297 posts)Is that it is now widespread practice in the USA to kill all grain plants two weeks prior to harvest with a massive dose of glyphosate. This increases yield and also makes the use of glyphosate climb to ever new higher quantities.
-Airplane
Major Nikon
(36,917 posts)...which is also routinely used as an industrial solvent and can be fatal even in small doses. Andy Warhol died from it.
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)"...Hakim compared US yields of crops like corn and sugar beets with the same crops grown in Europe (charts here), where GMOs aren't widely used. He also compared pesticide-use rates. The result: "The United States and Canada have gained no discernible advantage in yieldsfood per acrewhen measured against Western Europe, a region with comparably modernized agricultural producers like France and Germany."
The result, he notes, is consistent with a recent National Academy of Sciences report that found that "there was little evidence that the introduction of genetically modified crops in the United States had led to yield gains beyond those seen in conventional crops."
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/10/new-york-times-cuts-through-hype-gmos
Major Nikon
(36,917 posts)Both using non-specific trends far removed from empirical study.
Meanwhile the NYT seems to have conveniently missed this part from their own source:
Meanwhile Actual peer-reviewed analysis has this to say:
Results
On average, GM technology adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68%. Yield gains and pesticide reductions are larger for insect-resistant crops than for herbicide-tolerant crops. Yield and profit gains are higher in developing countries than in developed countries.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)This twisted practice has destroyed the public's ability to trust what so-called corporate "science" says about the so-called "safety" of GMOs, and the obvious damage to soil and water caused by vast industrial-scale GMO monocropping and the lakes of chemicals that are involved.
Me? I like clean food with no mutant chemicalized industrial crap in it. Thank you very much.
http://azdailysun.com/news/opinion/columnists/tainted-studies-shaking-our-faith-in-research/article_63b36c6e-ee69-5953-8b6b-31a2782f67ee.html
Major Nikon
(36,917 posts)
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)But most folks prefer to use common sense. So when it becomes apparent, as it does in the OP, that Multinational GMO Chemical corporations have been systematically promoting bullshit for decades, people with common sense note that and they factor it into their evaluations not just of the "claims" the corporations are making about their Strange New Crops, but also the corporately funded attacks on clean farms and food.
Major Nikon
(36,917 posts)