why do the pro GMO talking points seem to avoid the fact that 80 plus of the actual implementation of the technology is for herbicide primarily glyphosate resistance. Health and safety issues with GMO hardly ever include the issues of the herbicides in question Monsanto and other big biotech are primarily in the herbicide business patended seeds to support these herbicides are to insure the demand for these herbicides continue.

Expert response from Michael Horak

Former Weed Resistance Platform Lead, Monsanto Company

Tuesday, 25/11/2014 12:59

This site has addressed human health in terms of herbicides, particularly glyphosate. Here is a little background on why herbicides are used; linked at the bottom are additional responses that discuss the safety profile of glyphosate in more detail.

I am not sure that people who speak about GMO crops actually “avoid” the fact that many herbicide-tolerant crops are in the marketplace. In fact, multiple herbicide-tolerant crops have been developed because of the challenge weeds pose to agricultural production.

As you may know, weeds are a major competitor with crops for water, light, nutrients and physical space. They interfere with crop growth and development and therefore cause significant losses of crop yield and also negatively affect crop quality (weed seed or plant parts in the harvest grain).

In crop farming systems in use today, weeds are controlled or managed by various methods, including mechanical, cultural, biological and chemical methods.

• Mechanical methods include the use of machines to till (or stir) the soil and kill the weeds, hand labor using hoes or other tools, and other methods using machines (e.g., flaming). Cultural methods of weed control may include planting a competitive crop, crop rotation, the use of cover crops (planting another plant species that crowds out weeds but is removed before crop planting) and the use of methods to help the crop grow faster to outcompete with the weeds.
• Biological control is the use of other organisms, like insects, animals or micro-organisms, to control weeds.
• Chemical methods provide weed management by using herbicides to control the weeds without harming the crop.

Each of these methods has benefits and limitations associated with their use. The best approach to control weeds in row crops like corn, soybean and cotton is to use a diversity of practices, including cultural, chemical and mechanical control. (Biological control has limited effectiveness in a row crop, due to various constraints of the organisms used.) 

Weeds are found in all agricultural land, and without effective methods to control them, crop losses would be very high. Thus, farmers spend a great deal of time, energy and money controlling them using the methods described above.

Herbicide-tolerant crops were developed to provide farmers with a new tool for controlling weeds. For example, glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup agricultural herbicides, is a very effective herbicide to kill a very diverse group of weeds and is generally known by scientists to be an herbicide with favorable environmental characteristics. Prior to the introduction of Roundup Ready crops, if a farmer sprayed glyphosate on a crop, the crop would die. Once Roundup Ready crops were introduced, farmers could use glyphosate in the crop and obtain excellent weed control in the field without harming the crop. This was a major scientific breakthrough in weed management and agriculture. In this case, farmers adopted and used this new tool because it was cost effective and provided excellent weed control, and thus helped address the major challenge of weed management.

It is true that the use of glyphosate has increased as more farmers have used Roundup Ready or other glyphosate-tolerant crops (as would be expected) and as this new tool for farming has gained popularity. Farmers benefit from this weed management tool, Monsanto benefits as it sells its products to farmers and the environment benefits from the adoption of no-till practices. Here is another response on GMO Answers that addresses soil health from using GMOs.

Potential health and safety issues of herbicides and GM crops are carefully evaluated and assessed. Government regulatory agencies in the United States and around the world assess the safety of these products. For example, in the United States, the US Department of Agriculture-APHIS regulates the GM plant, the Food and Drug Administration regulates the food uses of the plant and the Environmental Protection Agency regulates the herbicide. Information on approved GM plants and herbicides, along with their safety and environmental assessments, can be found at the appropriate agency’s website. These agencies have determined that the GM crops and herbicides currently on the market can be used safely.

For more reading on glyphosate’s safety profile and human health in terms of herbicide/glyphosate use, please review these additional responses found on this site:

• How can you be sure that GMO foods won't affect human health long-term?
• DOES GLYPHOSATE CAUSE CANCER?
• If roundup is safe for human consumption in trace amounts in food, then is it safe to drink it? If not, where is the line between safe levels and toxic levels of roundup?