It is the claim of the biotechnology industry that genetically modified
(GM) crops give higher yields. Lured by this claim, more and more
farmers are switching to GM crops. But recent research funded by the US
government seems to have debunked this claim. It is also the claim of
the industry that GM crops need less pesticides and that they will not
contaminate non-GM crops. Research funded by the government of UK seems
to have debunked these claims also.
In the first study,
published in the February 2013 issue of the prestigious journal Nature
Biotechnology, a team of scientists funded by the US Department of
Agriculture, looked at the yields of several GM and non-GM varieties of
corn during the period 1990-2010. They did not find any significant
increase in yield in GM crops. In fact, many varieties of GM crops,
including Bt varieties gave lower yields than corresponding non-GM
varieties.
In other studies
sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of
UK, it has been found that GM farming would pollute the countryside for
generations. Pollen from GM plants can contaminate non-GM plants as far
as 26 km away. If a GM crop is grown only once on a field and a non-GM
crop is planted afterwards, more than 1% of the later crop will show GM
characteristics for as long as 16 years unless the field is sprayed
heavily with chemicals. This is bad news for conventional farmers who
can not sell their products if GM contamination levels are more than
0.1%. Beekeepers will also be hit because they face similar
restrictions.
A study by the scientists at the University of East Anglia has
found that the growing of GM crops can result in a reduction of upto 90%
in weeds. While this may be good for the farmers, it might result in
the disappearance of several species of birds which feed on these weeds.
What is significant about the above findings is that they were
not produced by anti-GM lobbyists, but by reputed scientists funded by
the governments of US and UK which have supported and encouraged GM
crops for a long time. People opposed to GM crops are happy that their
position has been vindicated by the government studies.
K.N. Ramachandra, Mysore Grahakara Parishat