GMO Research
Abstract: The research presented in this paper assesses how four social and agro-ecological factors – credit, governance, seed price and pest dynamics – mediate Bt cotton outcomes for producers in Burkina Faso. It finds that the cotton sector’s integrated credit provisioning scheme provides a mechanism for all socio-economic groups to adopt Bt cotton. High seed …
Abstract: Factors in the failure of the scientific community to properly oversee agricultural transgenics are presented. The large-scale restructuring of university science programs in the past 25 years from a model based on non-proprietary science for the ‘public good’ to the ‘academic capitalism’ model based on the ‘knowledge economy’ is discussed in the context of …
Abstract: In Mexico, the Center of origin and diversity of maize, a daily per capita average of 0.5 kg of maize-based foods are consumed. Approximately 10 million tons of maize is produced in small peasant holdings. Nevertheless, a greater proportion of industrially produced maize-derived products have started to appear in recent years. We traced the …
Abstract: Warangal District, Andhra Pradesh, India, is a key cotton‐growing area in one of the most closely watched arenas of the global struggle over genetically modified crops. In 2005 farmers adopted India’s first genetically modified crop, Bt cotton, in numbers that resemble a fad. Various parties, including the biotechnology firm behind the new technology, interpret …
Abstract: There has been a rapid expansion in the commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops, rising from the first plantings in 1995 to 44.5 million hectares worldwide in 2000, most of which have grown in North America. Though there are sharp divisions in opinions on benefits and risk, genetic modification (GM) does not represent a …
Abstract: Research on non-target effects of transgenic crop plants has focused primarily on bitrophic, tritrophic and indirect effects of entomotoxins from Bacillus thuringiensis, but little work has considered intergenerational transfer of Cry proteins. This work reports a lepidopteran (Chlosyne lacinia) taking up a Bt entomotoxin when exposed to sublethal or low concentrations, transferring the entomotoxin …
Text: “Genetically Modified Foods: Breeding Uncertainty” (Schmidt 2005) overlooked many serious concerns about the environmental and health risks of this new technology. Potential problems from antibiotic-resistant genes used in gene-altered crops, risks from unintended effects of the genetic engineering process, the increases in pesticide use stemming from widespread planting of gene-spliced varieties—these and several other …
Text: To some, genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) are frightening – alien creations that typify the arrogance of science embodied by the well-known Frankenstein story (Kareiva and Stark, 1994). In fact, however, the vast majority of GEOs that have been produced so far are quite mundane – typically representing minor modifications of well-studied “domesticated species,” no …
Abstract: Biotechnology is diversifying rapidly through the development and application of new approaches to genome editing and ongoing research into synthetic biology. Proponents of biotechnology are enthusiastic about these new developments and have recently begun calling for environmental movements to abandon their campaigns against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and for organic agriculture to reconsider its …
Text: Genetically engineered (GE) crops have been a contentious issue from the start, with heated debate between supporters and detractors. Much of this exchange has taken place behind the scenes, inside regulatory bureaucracies. Recently, however, the debate about transgenic crops has re‐emerged into the public spotlight, driven by a convergence of environmental and economic concerns. …
Abstract: The potential for genetically modified (GM) crops to threaten biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture is substantial. Megadiverse countries and centers of origin and/or diversity of crop species are particularly vulnerable regions. The future of sustainable agriculture may be irreversibly jeopardized by contamination of in situ preserved genetic resources threatening a strategic resource for the …
