What would a world without GM crops
look like? This is a science-fiction piece at the moment, but might come to
pass if the fringe anti-biotechnology activists who call themselves
“environmentalists” have their way.
The writer, Roxanne Palmer, posits this futuristic survey
as a discussion between a well-respected academic, crop scientist Dr. Wayne
Parrott of the University of Georgia (who has advised ACSH on matters of
ag-tech in the past), and a “senior scientist” of the Union of Concerned
Scientists, Dr. Doug Gurian-Sherman. Unfortunately, while this piece has some
informative specifics about the contributions of biotech to agricultural
production, the overall message turns into a “he said, he said” pseudo-debate
about the problems that might — or might not — redound upon us if GMOs were
banned, as the “scientists” of UCS would prefer.
Dr. Parrott points out the disappearance of certain
vitamins from Cheerios (General Mills) and from Post’s Grape-Nuts, when they
decided to go GMO-free. He also asserts that absent GMOs, farmers would have to
plow more, which means more fossil fuel use and erosion, plus labor costs.
They’d have to use more insecticide. Many farmers would probably switch from
the herbicide glyphosate (which several GM crops are specially designed to
resist) to other kinds of weed killers. Plus, any yield gains over the past 20
years would be largely nullified…….To Read More……
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