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GM CROPS DELIVER BENEFITS FOR FARMERS – ESPECIALLY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Rech Believes Better Quality, Lower Production Costs and Reduced Use of Chemicals Are Among Greatest Benefits
Brazil is one of a few developing countries that have made significant progress in plant biotechnology over the last decade. Dr. Elíbio Rech, a biotechnology researcher at Embrapa in Brazil, has spent his entire professional life working in the area of plant biotechnology and believes the social and economic benefits of genetically modified crops in Brazil are high – and that many of those benefits will transfer to other developing countries as the technology is more broadly adopted over the next 10 years.
“… there is a need to solve problems that are not possible to solve through traditional breeding methods. So, we need genetic engineering to aggregate value and solve problems for the producers,” says Dr. Rech. “In the case of biotechnology in agriculture, it is really important that we use this technology, not only to aggregate value to the products, but also to develop products with better quality, whose production costs are lower, and which reduce the use of chemicals in the environment. So, this technology makes each of these three things possible, and they are very important for our planet.”
Transgenic soybean crops planted by Brazilian farmers are estimated to have increased farm income by US$1.9 billion in the four-year period 2003-2006. Brazilian farmers planting transgenic crops have improved their environmental sustainability through gm crop management. From an environmental perspective, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) also reports there has been a savings of 62.7 million liters of diesel, 7.5 billion liters of water and a reduction of 160,000 tons of CO2 emissions since 1997 in biotech soybeans in Brazil — all of which contributes to a decrease in agriculture’s impact on biodiversity.
In addition to transgenic soybeans, farmers in Brazil also are planting biotech cotton – an insect-protected product that has been successfully adopted in other world areas as well. However, researchers at Embrapa have promising research programs focused on smaller crops that are critical to small-holder farmers in Brazil, such as papaya, beans and cassava.
Working closely on these Embrapa biotechnology research projects, Dr. Rech is familiar with the precision and safety of the technology. “These products have been sold for more than 10 years, and there is no evidence of harmful effects for the environment, animal or human health.”
In fact, the goal of biotechnology regulation worldwide is to conclude whether food from a biotech crop is as safe as food from the conventional counterpart, taking into account both intended and unintended effects. More thoroughly studied, regulated and understood than any crop or food in history, regulatory authorities and experts worldwide recognize the safety of genetically modified foods, stating that they are as safe as crops and foods produced through traditional methods.
“No doubt it is a very safe technology. First, because you use only sequences you’re interested in producing,” explains Dr. Rech. “However, what makes it safer is regulation, because the regulation that was developed to deal with biotechnology is extremely strict … to make sure that every product that gets to the market is safe.”
French farmers discuss the benefits of GM crops and explain why they think the country needs to reevaluate and adopt plant biotechnology.
