[LINK] Round Up = "superweeds and hard-to-kill insects"

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Pesticide use ramping up as GMO crop technology backfires 

By Carey Gillam, Reuters  October 2, 2012

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/Pesticide-use-ramping-up-as-GMO-
crop-technology-backfires-172282101.html


U.S. farmers are using more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and 
insects due largely to heavy adoption of genetically modified crop 
technologies that are sparking a rise of "superweeds" and hard-to-kill 
insects, according to a newly released study. 

Genetically engineered crops have led to an increase in overall pesticide 
use, by 404 million pounds, from the time they were introduced in 1996 
through 2011, according to the report by Charles Benbrook, a research 
professor at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources 
at Washington State University. 

Of that total, herbicide use increased over the 16-year period by 527 
million pounds while insecticide use decreased by 123 million pounds. 

Benbrook's paper -- published in the peer-reviewed Journal Environmental 
Sciences Europe over the weekend and announced on Monday -- undermines 
the value of both herbicide-tolerant crops and insect-protected crops, 
which were aimed at making it easier for farmers to kill weeds in their 
fields and protect crops from harmful pests, said Benbrook. 

Herbicide-tolerant crops were the first genetically modified crops 
introduced to world, rolled out by Monsanto Co. in 1996, first 
in "Roundup Ready" soybeans and then in corn, cotton and other crops. 

Roundup Ready crops are engineered through transgenic modification to 
tolerate dousings of Monsanto's "Roundup" herbicide. 

The crops were a hit with farmers who found they could easily kill weed 
populations without damaging their crops. 

But in recent years, more than two dozen weed species have become 
resistant to Roundup's chief ingredient glyphosate, causing farmers to 
use increasing amounts both of glyphosate and other weedkilling chemicals 
to try to control the so-called "superweeds." 

"Resistant weeds have become a major problem for many farmers reliant on 
GE crops, and are now driving up the volume of herbicide needed each year 
by about 25 percent," Benbrook said. 

Monsanto officials had no immediate comment. 

"We're looking at this. Our experts haven't been able to access the 
supporting data as yet," said Monsanto spokesman Thomas Helscher. 

Benbrook said the annual increase in the herbicides required to deal with 
tougher-to-control weeds on cropland planted to genetically modified 
crops has grown from 1.5 million pounds in 1999 to about 90 million 
pounds in 2011. 

Similarly, the introduction of "Bt" corn and cotton crops engineered to 
be toxic to certain insects is triggering the rise of insects resistant 
to the crop toxin, according to Benbrook. 

Insecticide use did drop substantially - 28 percent from 1996 to 2011 - 
but is now on the rise, he said. 

"The relatively recent emergence and spread of insect populations 
resistant to the Bt toxins expressed in Bt corn and cotton has started to 
increase insecticide use, and will continue to do so," he said. 

Herbicide-tolerant and Bt-transgenic crops now dominate U.S. agriculture, 
accounting for about one in every two acres of harvested cropland, and 
around 95 percent of soybean and cotton acres, and over 85 percent of 
corn acres. 

"Things are getting worse, fast," said Benbrook in an interview. 

"In order to deal with rapidly spreading resistant weeds, farmers are 
being forced to expand use of older, higher-risk herbicides. To stop corn 
and cotton insects from developing resistance to Bt, farmers planting Bt 
crops are being asked to spray the insecticides that Bt corn and cotton 
were designed to displace."

--

Stephen