WTO Web site

Themes of the Dispute
Biotech Crops Benefit the Environment

"I'll say this without reservation. We've lost less soil on our farm in the past ten years than we used to in one year back in the 1970s when we would plow."
— Gordon Wassenaar, biotech corn and soybean farmer, Jasper County, Iowa

• Pesticide Reduction: “In the U.S. in the last 8 years, we have reduced the consumption of pesticide by 46 million pounds of active ingredients in cotton and corn, while increasing yield and reducing production costs.” Dr. C.S. Prakash, Professor of Cellular Plant Biotechnology, Tuskegee University
  
  
• Soil & Water Conservation: No-till acreage--farmland in which plowing of soil is reduced or eliminated--has increased by 35 percent since biotech crops were introduced. As a result, biotech crops have reduced soil erosion by 1 billion tons per year, according to the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC). Further applications of conservation tilling using biotech crops could save up to $3.5 billion in water treatment and storage costs per year.
  
  
• Wildlife Protection: Biotech crops can create more hospitable environments for wildlife, including fish living in streams and rivers spared from chemical pesticides. In addition, research shows that biotech crops do not negatively impact species such as the monarch butterfly.
  
  
• Drought-Resistant Crops: Biotech rice currently under development is about twice as resistant to drought and salt water, and will withstand temperatures about 10 degrees lower than, conventional rice. Farmers are able to grow biotech rice in fields where cultivation once was impossible, according to Ajay K. Garg, a Cornell University researcher and author of a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, November 26, 2002
  
  
• “Through the development of GM cotton, we can reduce the use of pesticides by more than 80%... and can reduce pesticide poisoning cases by 90%.” – Professor Guo Sandui, Chinese Academy of Sciences and inventor of Chinese GM cotton.