Genetically modified crops don't reduce need for pesticides, study shows

Filed in archive Biotech on July 30, 2006

In a development that could have repercussions for nanotech development, a new study shows that the benefits of growing genetically modified crops are short-lived because farmers quickly resort to spraying their fields with harmful Pesticides, says a report at checkbiotech.org.

Supporters of genetically modified crops have long claimed it saves money and provides environmental benefits because farmers need to spray their fields fewer times with chemicals.

However, the new study of 481 cotton growers in China found that, although they did use fewer pesticides in the first few years of adopting GM plants, after seven years they had to use just as much pesticide as they did with conventional crops.

Genetic modification is something of a poster child for biotechnology, which is itself often cited as a bellwether for nanotechnology. The failure of a major claim as to the benefits of genetically modified crops could make people more suspicious of nanotech.