Do GMO Crops Lower Chemical Use?
While it is true that a few food crops are bio-engineered to produce their own pesticides or herbicides, these traits have been demonstrated to transfer to weeds and insects, making their effects very short term. One study, reported in 1997 in the British publication New Scientist, indicates that honeybees may be harmed by feeding on proteins found in genetically engineered canola flowers. Some of the compounds used in GMO plants as natural insecticides are used in organic farming. so the chronic use of them in GMO crops constantly exposes insects to them, robbing organic farmers of the use of similar compounds as pesticide resistance makes these compounds worthless. This class of GMO crops may lower pesticide applications, but the gain is temporary and diminishing. The same mechanism applies to implanted herbicides, also creating resistant strains. More notable are the herbicide-resistant GMO crops that actually encourage farmers to use more chemicals. This is true for the bulk of the
