Blog #8: GM crops promote superweeds, food insecurity and pesticides, say NGOs

The growth of “superweeds” has increased with the increased use of pesticides in many countries. The cause of this is the use of genetic engineered crops and seeds. They were supposed to increase to crop yield, but instead they have “vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of ‘superweeds,’” said a report by 20 food and conservation groups in India, south-east Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This “miracle crop” was first used in the United States and has now spread to 29 other countries. They manufacturers of GMOs promised that these crops would help with food hunger, climate change, and soil erosion. They have not lived up to their promises. In fact, the report said that world hunger has never been so high. The use of synthetic chemicals to kill the pests has increased despite the claim that GMOs would decrease the use of synthetic chemicals. For example, in China, insect resistant Bt cotton has increased the use of pesticides even though Bt cotton was supposed to decrease the use of pesticides. Bt, known as Basillus thuringiensis, is a term used for a bacteria in the soil that is used to combat insects and pests.

The use of genetically engineered crops has increases food hunger around the world because of the increased use of pesticides. The “superweeds” have increases because they have become immune to the pesticides and are killing the crops. With the weeds killing the crops, there is less food for people which is making them go hungry. Monsanto, Syngenta, and Dupont are the major GM companies and control about 70% of the global seed sales. These companies are making small farmers lose their farms because the companies are raising the prices of the seeds, have patents on them, and have control of what the farmers are growing. Monsanto has increases the levels of indebtedness of farmers because they are forcing the farmers to buy their more expensive seeds. Around 250,000 farmers in India have committed suicide in the past 15 years. It is thought that these companies are behind it because of the prices of their seeds. With the increased food hunger by these crops, many people are moving into poverty because they cannot afford to buy seeds to grow food.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/19/gm-crops-insecurity-superweeds-pesticides