REASON #1: Using GM crops, farmers is able to reduce pesticide spraying, decrease greenhouse gas e...

1. Experts Discuss the Safety & Benefits of Plant Biotechnology
by Ranjana Smetacek
REASON #1: Using GM crops, farmers is able to reduce pesticide spraying, decrease greenhouse
gas emissions and increase yields.
Evidence continues to accumulate about how
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genetically modified food crops are helping to preserve environmental surroundings. "Here you will
find there's very versatile technology, which includes the energy as well as the ability to contribute
to an even more effective, a more benign, a more sustainable agriculture," says Dr. Clive James, an
agricultural scientist and founder from the not-for-profit International Service for the Acquisition of
Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).
For example, insect-resistant (Bt) crops offer an substitute for, and lower the use of, agricultural
pesticides including insecticides and fungicides. Since Bt corn and cotton can produce their
particular protection against specifically targeted pests, farmers is effective in reducing how much
pesticides required to control them. Since 1996, farmers have reduced pesticide applications by
172,000 metric tons being a direct result of genetically modified food crops.
"What's been amazing to many people of us is always that we've seen advances that even were
beyond our wildest expectations," says Dr. Roger Beachy regarding genetically engineered plants.
Dr. Beachy is often a researcher and founding president with the not-for-profit Donald Danforth
Plant Science Center. "We all knew it turned out theoretically possible, but to really do it and deploy
it in to the field. And then, at the end of 4 to 5 years, report that it is an advantage of growing yields
reducing using agriculture chemicals by 50 million pounds 12 months. It's a great number."
This decrease in using pesticides has consequently reduced the fuel, water and packaging which are
accustomed to manufacture, distribute and apply pesticides. Typical savings include the reduction of
diesel fuel that is used in manufacturing, shipping and storing insecticides; the conservation of
water utilized by farmers when applying pesticides; the reduction of tractor and aviation fuel also
found in applications; as well as a decrease in the waste generated from your disposal of packaging.
Herbicide-tolerant crops have enabled farmers to work with more benign herbicides that rapidly
dissipate in soil and water. In addition, herbicide-tolerant crops have spurred the adoption of no till
farming ? the reduction or removal of plowing to get rid of weeds and disturb the soil for planting.
The environmentally beneficial tillage practices conserve topsoil, preserving soil moisture and
reducing runoff; slow up the release of greenhouse gas emissions; and make and improve habitats
for birds along with other wildlife.
Genetically modified food crops also help in producing more food for a passing fancy level of land,
which reduces the have to clear additional land for cultivation. This ends in less influence on
prairies, wetlands, forests along with other fragile ecosystems that might well be converted for
agricultural purposes.
"Production in Brazil has increased significantly without great increases in the region essential for
agriculture. There is fantastic pressure presently concerning certain environments, like the Brazilian
mountainous regions and the wetlands, the Amazon region," says Dr. Francisco Arag?o, senior

2. researcher in Genetic Research and Biotechnology at Embrapa in Brazil. "One in the ways we help
preserve these areas is by increasing productivity and never have to increase how much land used
for agriculture."
Scientists agree that habitat destruction could be the biggest single threat to biodiversity. Producing
increasing levels of food without increasing arable land carries a major effect on protecting wildlife
habitats.
"Biodiversity is crucial for all those life on the planet. And all kinds of agriculture ? including organic
farming ? is really a threat to biodiversity," says Dr. Klaus Ammann about the significance about
biodiversity. Dr. Ammann can be an
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honorary professor emeritus and former director with the Botanical Garden in the University of Bern
in Switzerland. "There are numerous methods for doing better in agriculture, but one with the most
efficient and greatest ways is biotechnology."
"I've studied this carefully, as well as the evidence is fairly clear on certain points," says The
Honorable Lord Taverne around the safety of genetically modified foods. Lord Taverne can be a
member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom Parliament and founder with the charity Sense
about Science. "It's reduced the use of pesticides. It produces greater productivity. And, if it reduces
the quantity of farmland you have to work with, it can actually be very beneficial to biodiversity."
REASON #2: Increased yield and income from biotech crops improves the standard of living for
farmers in developing countries.
Small- and large-scale family farms worldwide are benefiting from
increased yields, reduced production costs, or both in some
instances to generate significantly improved net economic returns
as a consequence of genetically
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modified food crops.
"If you appear at the adoption of biotech crops since 1996, it's been
on a significant upward curve in terms from the area planted. And
the key driver of this has been the economical benefits that farmers
have produced by it ? US$28 billion worth of extra farm income for the farmers who have used the
technology," says Graham Brookes regarding the attributes of biotechnology in agriculture. Brookes
is an agricultural economist and director of PG Economics in England. "Now that rise in farm income
has become spread across all of the countries who have used the technology, in the the planet along
with developing countries."
Of the 10.3 million farmers who planted biotech crops in 22 countries in 2006, 90 percent were
small, resource-poor farmers from 11 developing countries including Argentina, Brazil, China,
Columbia, Honduras, India, Mexico, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa and Uruguay. In these
areas, the improved income from biotech crops produces a contribution to the economics of family
farms along with the alleviation of poverty.
"Poverty today is often a rural phenomenon. eighty percent of the poor people that we have on this
planet today are farmers or people that work on farms," explains Dr. James. "So, therefore, if you

3. can introduce biotech crops that may improve the salary of they will, then you're making a direct
contribution to the alleviation of poverty."
"If we give important technologies growing more food in poor places ? better seed varieties, better
ways to deal with soil nutrients, good ways to control plant pathogens ? it's going to create
livelihoods. It's going to generate income inside villages. It's gonna convert what's now sub-
subsistence agriculture into commercial farming. ? enhancing the poorest with the poor to purchase
a sustainable future on their own," says Dr. Jeffrey Sachs regarding the pros of genetically modified
foods in alleviating hunger in developing countries. Dr. Sachs may be the director of the Earth
Institute and with the United Nations Millennium Project.
As agricultural productivity increases within the developing world, it also drives economic growth
and expands the opportunity to trade, causing more and better jobs, better medical and education.
"We interviewed 10,000 farmers spread across India," says Dr. Laveesh Bhandari, economist and
director of Indicus Analytics in India. "What our study shows is that the effect on overall
development of the household and also the community is fairly phenomenal in Bt cotton-producing
areas. Greater incomes, greater use of healthcare services, greater education, as well as on a
number of dimensions ? we find that Bt cotton production makes the farmer, your family and also
the community happier."
Global population projections claim that by 2020, there will be one more 1.2 billion people for the
planet, that's equivalent for the population of Africa and South America combined. "Looking ahead
towards the year 2050, we're going to have to produce the meals and fiber for something
approaching 10 billion people," says Dr. Norman Borlaug, the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient for
his leadership role within the Green Revolution to boost food production. "Can we take action? I say
yes. If we continue to develop technology ? including more widespread putting on biotechnology."
(c) 2007 Monsanto Company. All rights reserved. The copyright holder consents to the use of this
fabric and the images within the published context only and solely to the purpose of promoting the
advantages of agricultural biotechnology.
Ranjana Smetacek is the director of Global Biotech Acceptance for Monsanto. On the net at