I’m sure everyone who follows the genetic engineering debate has heard about the report from The Organic Center which lays a net increase in pesticide usage at the feet of genetically engineered crops. So I finally found a link to the report itself [warning pdf, also 69 pages]. I’m neither a statistician nor an agronomist (despite my awesome ISU hat which has exactly that slogan), so I’m not qualified to confirm or refute the numbers they put forward. Hopefully we’ll see more detailed analysis on that end from someplace like Biofortified or Sustainablog. I now have some analysis of the methodology of the report itself, tracked down by gntis on the biofortified forums. What I can do is given a bit of the broader context about the context of their numbers and what they don’t mean. This post will be in the following format:
- The 318 million pounds in context
- Chemicals are different
- –Different Toxicity
- –Different Persistance in the Environment
- Herbicide resistant weeds
- One trait vs a technology
318 Million Pounds in Context
Example tweet:
Pesticide use has skyrocketed by 318 million lbs (in last 13 years) with use of #GMO seeds!
Let’s put that number in perspective. (more…)