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Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use

The basic finding is that compared to pesticide use in the absence of GE crops, farmers applied 318 million more pounds of pesticides over the last 13 years as a result of planting GE seeds. This difference represents an average increase of about 0.25 pound for each acre planted to a GE trait.

GE crops are pushing pesticide use upward at a rapidly accelerating pace. In 2008, GE crop acres required over 26% more pounds of pesticides per acre than acres planted to conventional varieties. The report (.pdf) projects that this trend will continue as a result of the rapid spread of glyphosate-resistant weeds.

via The Organic Center :: State of Science :: Pesticides.

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