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<br />New Routes in Conventional Agriculture
<br />
<br />The Promises and Pitfalls of
<br />Herbicide-Resistant Crops
<br />Doug Romig
<br />
<br />In January of 1989, Monsanto Company of St.
<br />Louis reported that their researchers had genetically
<br />engineered a new variety of cotton with the ability to
<br />withstand application of the company's non-selective
<br />herbicide glyphosate, better known as Round-Up.
<br />Currently six other companies, both agrichemical and
<br />biotechnical, are working to develop crops that are
<br />resistant to Round-Up. . Those crops include alfalfa,.
<br />canola,. cereals, corn, forest trees, soybeans, sugar
<br />beets, tobacco, and tomatoes.
<br />The recently-published report, Biotechnology's
<br />Bitter Harvest: Herbicide-Tolerant Crops and the
<br />Threat to Sustainable Agriculture, lists 27 corpora-
<br />tions that are developing crops resistant to many of
<br />the major weed killers used in today's agriculture.
<br />Among those corporations are the top eight chemical
<br />pesticide companies, as well as many of the large seed
<br />corporations. Researchers are considering almost all
<br />cereal and vegetable crops, oilseeds (rape, canola),
<br />tiniber and pulp trees and even horticulture plants as
<br />recipients of the herbicide-resistant genes. They are
<br />attempting to make crops resistant to many chemical
<br />herbicides,. including Atrazine, which is reported to
<br />be the herbicide used in the largest quantities on
<br />America's. cropland. Atrazine is also a groundwater
<br />contaminant in thirteen states: 1
<br />Many questions arise as we contemplate the
<br />consequences of developing herbicide-resistant crops.
<br />Who gains? Who loses? How will this technology
<br />affect farmers and their communities? What impact
<br />could this research have on the sustainable agricul-
<br />ture movement? Crop breeding methods based on
<br />technical breakthroughs that have come with the
<br />biological revolution are a great concern to a broad
<br />spectrum of citizen activist groups, academics, state
<br />agricultural agencies and public interest organiza-
<br />tions. The Biotechnology Working Group draws its
<br />membership from these disquieted people. Its pur-
<br />pose is to foster the public's interest in biotechnology
<br />issues by disseminating information and planning
<br />action strategies. The group published Bitter Harvest
<br />to cultivate a better understanding of the subject.
<br />Herbicide-resistance (RR) is the first viable
<br />product developed by the biotechnology industry for
<br />crop producers. Initially numerous possibilities for
<br />agriculture (as well as medicine, industry and phar-
<br />inaceuticals) spurred ecstatic interest and financial
<br />
<br />investment into genetic research. Promises of in-
<br />creased yields and photosynthetic efficiency, im-
<br />proved pest and disease resistance, drought and cold
<br />tolerance, the ability for grain crops to fix nitrogen (a
<br />property that only legumes have) and allelopathic
<br />characteristics to inhibit weed germination were
<br />touted as vehicles to advance crop production into
<br />the age of "high-tech" agriculture. It seems ironic
<br />that the initial intent ofbiotechnical pursuits for
<br />agriculture was to wean the farmer off chemicals.
<br />The direction the industry takes now only perpetu-
<br />ates the pesticide habit. .
<br />Marc Lappe's book The Broken Code (1984, Si-
<br />erra Club Books) explains the reductionist view held'
<br />by many geneticists that led to the assumptions and
<br />excitement. Initially they believed that many of the
<br />commercially desirable traits of our food plants such
<br />as yield, plant size and drought tolerance, were
<br />controlled by one gene (monogenic). As the complexi-
<br />ties of the cell's nucleus and its mechanisms were
<br />further understood, it became apparent that most of
<br />the genes for crop improvement were polygenic. They
<br />are traits determined by numerous biochemical
<br />pathways;.multiple genes govern their expression.
<br />Researchers' visions soon darkened as insurmount-
<br />able techn{cal difficulties arose, threateniug to dash
<br />all hopes of miracle crops in the field. Companies
<br />having invested millions ofresearch dollars ($120
<br />million by DuPont alone) looked for alternatives.
<br />They examined traits that would not only be finan-
<br />. cially rewarding, but technically easy to transfer in
<br />the lab from one organism to another. It had been
<br />observed that ma.ny weeds tolerated the application of
<br />herbicide, and the ability to survive the toxin was
<br />governed by one gene. Herbicide resistance was the
<br />industry's choice.
<br />Herbicides, other than a few sparingly applied
<br />sulfur compounds, were not used in agriculture
<br />before World War II. Research in chemical warfare
<br />and malaria control helped conjure ideas of agricul-
<br />tural pesticides, and the post-war synthetic chemical
<br />industry grew rapidly. The discovery in 1944 that
<br />the phenoxy group of chemicals critically damaged
<br />plants spurreoi research into herbicides. Soon these
<br />new toxic chemicals were commonly applied on all
<br />major crops.
<br />Herbicide use has grown consistently for
<br />decades. In 1966, approximately 110 million pounds
<br />of herbicides were applied to field crops, a fifth of
<br />what is used today." An Environmental Protection
<br />-Agency report says that herbicides account for 62% of
<br />total pesticide use on the farm.'
<br />The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic
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