Genes Modified — Numbers Too

MARK JONKER Financial Mail (South Africa) 5mar04

Misleading marketing has created the myth that GM crops are more profitable and better for the environment

The graph showing hectares planted to GM crops worldwide (FM Focus February 27) is flawed. The source is the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA), a lobby group funded by the biotech industry. Its statistics of areas with GM crops in the Third World have been shown to be inflated by 20 times or more when compared with other sources.

Readers should further note that US agriculture department figures calculate that in the past three years (2001-2003) more than 73m more pounds of pesticides were applied on GM acres than on non-GM acres.

It is also well documented that the world's most widely grown GM food crop, GM soya, yields 5%-10% less than non-GM varieties, while the adoption of GM technology by US farmers has resulted in their maize exports to Europe falling from US$305m in 1996 to $2m in 2001.

Misleading marketing has created the myth that GM crops are more profitable and better for the environment, while the British Medical Association has called for a moratorium on the release of GM crops until there is sufficient independent scientific data to prove they are safe for human consumption.

Mark Jonker, Botha's Hill, KwaZulu Natal

Many thanks for sending this file to GM Watch daily: http://www.gmwatch.org