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Recently, China has made clear that it will expand its genetically modified seed program, in order to help farmers save money on pesticides. Uses of dangerous pesticides in order to prevent pests are costly both for farmers and the environment itself. The genetically modified seeds prevent pests and limit the need for pesticides.
However, recent studies show that the genetically modified seeds have a downside. A ten-year study in Northern China, by Y. Lu et al. and published in Science, concluded that while the new seeds are reducing and controlling one pest, other threatening insects have flourished. The focu s of the study has been the Chinese government’s approval of genetically modified cotton plants with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) which kills the damaging bollworm Helicoverpa armigera. Currently, more than four million hectares of Bt cotton is grown in China. The study found that the number of mirid bugs (of the Miridae family) has seen a steep increase since the introduction of the genetically-manipulated cotton. Mirids are not susceptible to the Bt toxin and the reduction of pesticides, as a result from the Bt cotton, has enabled the mirids to increase. The mirids are just as dangerous as cotton worms and can reduce cotton crops significantly.
The implication of this is that pesticides are still needed and farmers have gone back to using them, according to the study. Many argue that the economic benefits from genetically modified products in China have eroded. The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture is facing protests from many public officials and it is one of the biggest challenges to China’s policy towards transgenic crops. --Niklas Virta, GIC Group
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