The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis.
But what really catalyzed [Walter De Jong’s, (a potato breeder and geneticist at Cornell University)] concerns over misguided fears of GMOs was a recent trip he took to Indonesia. . . he watched men in T-shirts and no facemasks spraying chemicals on their crops. . . .
. . . . In parts of India, farmers spray more than 60 insecticides on their eggplant. . . To reduce the insecticide load without losing the harvest . . . public sector researchers and a private Indian seed company, developed Bt . . .eggplant . . . . public outcry from GMO opponents blocked the eggplants from federal approval.
“It was madness to stop Bt brinjal” says Kulvinder Gill, an agricultural geneticist at Washington State University . . . who grew up in India . . . “People should not even be eating this brinjal because it has so much insecticide on it,” . . . .
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De Jong. . . was shocked at how people who don’t live near farms feel entitled to advise farmers, especially on environmental matters. . . .
“. . . crop biotechnologists and farmers want to reduce their pesticide use, and yet the method we think is most sustainable and environmentally friendly has been dismissed out of hand.” . . . .
Read full, original post: GMOs May Feed the World Using Fewer Pesticides
