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Yes, but OP's point is that GMO has been mostly used to enable chemical use. I am inclined to agree with them, without data. BT corn, roundup ready corn and be

Yes, but OP's point is that GMO has been mostly used to enable chemical use. I am inclined to agree with them, without data. BT corn, roundup ready corn and beans, and other herbicide tolerant strains of common field crops are very, very prevalent and enable the use of not just more glyphosate to compensate for resistance in the weeds, but also accompanying chemicals for the same reasons.

asdff 5y ago
There is more to this narrative than meets the eye. Before roundup ready crops we used far worse herbicides and pesticides that are much more prevalent in runoff and in the local ecology, like atrazine, metribuzin, and alachlor. So while they use more pounds per acre in some cases, it's usually stuff that is far less harmful to the environment. BT corn is brilliant. Bt has been used in organic farming for 50 years and doesn't harm people or animals or pollinators. Having the corn produce it directly rather than having to spray excess amounts of it regularly over your crops is a boon. You use far less since it's concentrated at the site where it matters: in the tissue the insect bites into. We have to take these measures. If we didn't treat with pesticides and herbicides, we go back to biblical plague levels of insect blight and are unable to feed our population. It happens even in backyard gardens. I've seen cabbage loopers turn my tomato plant into swiss cheese in a matter of days.
- Loughla 5y ago
  Oh, I 100% agree with you. There is no going back, without massive famine and death. Glyphosate causing cancer is, I would bet, going to be mostly ignored due to the unbelievable human suffering that would occur if it was banned. Again, though, the point of OP was not that more is used, or better chemical are used, it was that GMO has, in terms of row crops, been mostly organized around chemical use. That stands true, in my opinion, regardless of whether the chemicals are more or less harmful.

asdff 5y ago

There is more to this narrative than meets the eye. Before roundup ready crops we used far worse herbicides and pesticides that are much more prevalent in runoff and in the local ecology, like atrazine, metribuzin, and alachlor. So while they use more pounds per acre in some cases, it's usually stuff that is far less harmful to the environment. BT corn is brilliant. Bt has been used in organic farming for 50 years and doesn't harm people or animals or pollinators. Having the corn produce it directly rather than having to spray excess amounts of it regularly over your crops is a boon. You use far less since it's concentrated at the site where it matters: in the tissue the insect bites into. We have to take these measures. If we didn't treat with pesticides and herbicides, we go back to biblical plague levels of insect blight and are unable to feed our population. It happens even in backyard gardens. I've seen cabbage loopers turn my tomato plant into swiss cheese in a matter of days.

Loughla 5y ago
Oh, I 100% agree with you. There is no going back, without massive famine and death. Glyphosate causing cancer is, I would bet, going to be mostly ignored due to the unbelievable human suffering that would occur if it was banned. Again, though, the point of OP was not that more is used, or better chemical are used, it was that GMO has, in terms of row crops, been mostly organized around chemical use. That stands true, in my opinion, regardless of whether the chemicals are more or less harmful.