Who benefits from GM crops - FoE
Friends of the Earth published a report in January 2007 entitled 'Who Benefits from GM Crops?'. The report is a critical analysis to sort out the reality from the myths surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops, focusing on the decade of their introduction into the food and feed supply, from 1996 to the present.
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These are its main conclusions:
- The GM crops commercialized on a large scale in a few countries in the world since 1996 have not addressed the main agricultural problems and challenges facing farmers in most countries of the world, and have notproven to be superior to conventional crops.
- GM crops have been released quickly and widely without an adequate evaluation and understanding of their performance or f their health, environmental and socio-economic impacts.
- Small-scale farmers and consumers have not benefited from the introduction of GM crops.
- GM crops commercialized today have on the whole increased rather than decreased pesticide use, and do not yield more than conventional varieties. The environment has not benefited, and GM crops will become increasingly unsustainable over the medium to long term.
- To date, GM crops have done nothing to alleviate hunger or poverty. The great majority of GM crops cultivated today are used as high-priced animal feed to supply rich nations with meat. More than four out of every five hectares of GM crops are engineered to withstand the application of proprietary herbicides sold by the same company that markets the GM seed, and have little if any relevance to farmers in developing countries who often cannot afford to buy these chemicals.
- Monsanto has been the main beneficiary of the commercialization of GM crops in the United States.
- Large-scale farmers in the US and Argentina have benefited from a ‘convenience effect’, particularly in soybean production. However, it is questionable whether this ‘convenience effect’
means greater neteconomic returns compared to those derived from conventional soybean production. - There are a lack of comprehensive studies on the performance of GM crops in every country that has commercialized them, and this consequently calls into question their claimed benefits.
Source: Friends of the Earth, 2007: Who Benefits from GM Crops?
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