The main GM crops grown to date, (soya, maize, cotton and oil seed rape (canola), have been genetically engineered to benefit farmers. Have farmers benefited from growing them?
Answer:
The biotech companies have sold mainly two types of GM crops to farmers - HT crops and Bt crops. Farmers who grow HT crops have been promised that they will save time and money because they will need to buy fewer herbicides (weed killers) and spend less time spraying them. Farmers who grow Bt crops have been told they will save money on insecticides (insect killers) because Bt plants contain a toxin which kills insects.
The reality has been quite different. Ht crops developed ‘superweeds’ and ‘volunteer’ crops which could only be controlled by the increased use of herbicides. Bt crops eventually produce ‘superbugs’ that necessitate the increased use of insecticides. Neither farmers nor the environment have benefited from GM crops in the medium and long term. Many farmers in the USA and Canada want to revert to conventional growing, but find they are locked into contracts with biotech companies or are discouraged by the time and money it will cost to clean up their land and regain their ‘conventional’ growing status. (See THE ENVIRONMENT.) The growing of GM crops in the USA has implicated not only farmers who grow GM crops but farmers who do not grow them in issues of liability - some of which have resulted in expensive law suits. Conventional farmers have sued GM farmers for contamination of their land, and farmers who have not grown GM crops have found themselves sued by biotech companies who discover GM plants in their fields – a result of the spread of GM seed from neighbouring farms.
(For a full discussion of how farmers can be effected by growing GM crops see website section GM PHARMACEUTICAL & INDUSTRIAL CROPS)
If farmers have not benefited from growing GM food and feed crops, will they benefit from growing GM medicine crops?
Answer:
The biotech industry in the USA has promised farmers premiums for growing GM Pharmaceutical crops (GM medicine crops). What is not clear is how much profit a farmer will actually make after he complies with the government regulations (set on March the 6th 2003) on growing these crops - regulations stipulate that special machinery for handling and harvesting GM crops be used, that specialised training of farmers is mandatory, that increased land separation distances be implemented, and that increased government inspections be imposed.
Growing GM crops exposes all farmers (even those not growing GM crops) to liability suits which in some cases could prove financially ruinous. Farmers can be sued by the biotech company, the government, or by other farmers if their GM medicine crops contaminate the environment, the food and feed supply, or a neighbouring farmer’s land. Farmers cannot cover the costs involved with litigation proceedings or compensation settlements as there are no insurance policies available for biotech companies or farmers who produce GM products. Furthermore, if a farmer wishes to convert back to conventional growing he may find the time it takes to ‘clean’ his land and restore his conventional growing status is financially prohibitive. (See section GM PHARMACEUTICAL & INDUSTRIAL CROPS, sub-section Can GM Pharmaceutical & Industrial Crops Benefit Farmers?)
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