A Real Biotechnology Threat to Biodiversity

May 3, 2009 by Tracey
Filed under Sustainable Development

What has been missing from the debate over biotechnology in the form of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a reasoned assessment of the true potential benefits and dangers from these lab creations and the threats to biodiversity.

Sustainable development seeks to use all the tools at the disposal of farmers and engineers to seek out a best-fit solution to the challenges of the 21st century.

In the case of commodity crops, the use of GMOs does result in the use of fewer pesticide applications in a conventional system. What that statement fails to take into account is the use of energy intensive inputs that is required to grow crops in that same conventional system.

Moreover, one of the greatest threats from GMO crops is not often addressed: what happens when GMOs escape the confinement of their fields. Maize, for instance, is a wind-pollinated crop that is capable of spreading pollen 50 miles a day in a stiff wind. With plenty of stiff winds in the likely future, this threat to the centers of crop biodiversity that traditional plant breeders rely upon is lost to GMO contamination.