Debated.
Start debating
All motions

Sources · Genetically modified crops

This house would embrace genetically modified crops.

Fact bank v1 · 12 cards

  1. GMC-01Mostly true

    “GM food is safe to eat.”

    Mostly right for the GM foods already on sale. The World Health Organization (WHO) says GM foods on the world market have passed safety checks and are not likely to harm people's health. But it also says each GM food has to be checked on its own, so nobody can promise that every possible GM food is safe.

    The WHO says no health effects have been shown in the general public in countries where these foods are approved, and no allergic reactions have been found from GM foods on the market. Safety checks look at things like poisons, allergies and nutrition. In an EU-funded study published in 2019, rats were fed one kind of GM maize (corn) for up to 2 years and showed no harmful effects.

    “GM foods currently available on the international market have passed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health.”
    World Health Organization·Food, genetically modified (questions and answers)Intergovernmental body · 1 May 2014 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  2. GMC-02True

    “Almost 9 in 10 scientists say GM food is safe to eat.”

    Confirmed: in a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, 88% of US scientists who belong to the AAAS (a large science society) said eating GM foods is generally safe, compared with 37% of US adults. That 51-point gap was the biggest between scientists and the public on any of the 13 issues compared.

    Pew asked 3,748 US-based AAAS members and 2,002 US adults in 2014. Pew later reported that 92% of working biomedical scientists with PhDs in that 2014 survey said GM foods are safe to eat. A survey shows what experts think; it is not proof on its own. In 2016, Pew found 39% of Americans thought GM foods were worse for health, and only 14% thought almost all scientists agree they are safe.

    “Nearly nine-in-ten (88%) scientists say it is generally safe to eat GM foods compared with 37% of the general public”
    Pew Research Center·Public and Scientists' Views on Science and SocietyIndependent research institute · 29 Jan 2015 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  3. GMC-03Mostly true

    “GM crops raise farmers' harvests by 22% and their profits by 68%.”

    Mostly right, as an average. A 2014 meta-analysis (a study that pools the results of many studies) of 147 studies found GM crops raised yields by 22%, raised farmer profits by 68%, and cut chemical pesticide use by 37% on average. But yield gains were bigger for insect-resistant crops than for weedkiller-tolerant ones, and yield and profit gains were bigger in poorer countries than in richer ones.

    The studies covered GM soybean, maize (corn) and cotton. Yield gains were 14 percentage points higher in developing countries, where small farmers often lose a lot of their crop to pests. The authors found that who paid for a study made no significant difference to its results. A separate 2018 review of 21 years of field data on GM maize found yields 5.6% to 24.5% higher, with less of the harmful mould poisons that can grow on grain.

    “On average, GM technology adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68%.”
    PLOS ONE·A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops (PLOS ONE, 2014)Peer-reviewed research · 3 Nov 2014 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  4. GMC-04Mixed

    “GM crops mean farmers spray less pesticide.”

    It depends on the crop. A big study of US farms from 1998 to 2011 found that growers of insect-resistant GM maize (corn) used 11.2% less insecticide. But growers of GM soybeans built to survive the weedkiller glyphosate used 28% more weedkiller than other soybean growers, while growers of glyphosate-tolerant GM maize used 1.2% less. Over the years, growers of these weedkiller-tolerant crops used more and more weedkiller compared with other farmers.

    When the US study weighed chemicals by how much harm they do to the environment, not just by weight, GM soybean growers used about the same amount of weedkiller, and GM maize growers used 9.8% less weedkiller and 10.4% less insecticide. A 2014 study pooling 147 studies found GM crops cut pesticide use by 37% on average, with bigger cuts for insect-resistant crops. Worldwide use of glyphosate has risen almost 15-fold since weedkiller-tolerant GM crops arrived in 1996.

    “adopters of GE glyphosate-tolerant (GT) soybeans used 28% (0.30 kg/ha) more herbicide than nonadopters”
    Science Advances (open-access article on PubMed Central)·Genetically engineered crops and pesticide use in U.S. maize and soybeans (Science Advances, 2016)Government / parliament · 31 Aug 2016 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  5. GMC-05Mixed

    “GM cotton made India's small farmers better off.”

    Partly. A study that surveyed 533 Indian cotton farm families between 2002 and 2008 found GM (Bt) cotton raised cotton yields per acre by 24%, cotton profits by 50%, and household spending, a sign of living standards, by 18%. But a 2020 article that looked at 20 years of data found that rising yields matched extra fertiliser and other changes more than Bt cotton, and that farmers now spend more on pesticides than before Bt cotton arrived.

    Bt cotton makes its own insect-killing protein. It was first sold in India in 2002, and by 2011 it grew on about 90% of India's cotton land. The 2020 authors say it first cut pesticide use and still controls one major pest, but another pest became resistant and other pests surged. The 2020 authors say most earlier studies looked only at short-term effects and missed other big changes in Indian cotton farming.

    “Bt has caused a 24% increase in cotton yield per acre through reduced pest damage and a 50% gain in cotton profit among smallholders”
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (open-access article on PubMed Central)·Economic impacts and impact dynamics of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton in India (PNAS, 2012)Government / parliament · 2 Jul 2012 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  6. GMC-06Mostly true

    “Golden Rice, a GM rice, has been shown to give people vitamin A.”

    Mostly right, but the proof is small. A 2009 study fed Golden Rice to 5 healthy adults and found their bodies turned its beta-carotene (a natural substance the body makes vitamin A from) into vitamin A well: on average about 3.8 parts beta-carotene made 1 part vitamin A, by weight. A 2012 study in children was retracted (withdrawn) in 2015, because the researchers could not prove it had been properly approved by an ethics committee or that all parents or children were given the full consent form.

    Golden Rice was made to contain up to 35 micrograms of beta-carotene in each gram of rice. Lack of vitamin A can cause night blindness and make it harder for the body to fight illness. These studies show the body can use Golden Rice's beta-carotene. They do not show how much it would cut vitamin A deficiency in places where people eat a lot of rice.

    “Beta-carotene derived from Golden Rice is effectively converted to vitamin A in humans.”
    American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (abstract via PubMed, US National Library of Medicine)·Golden Rice is an effective source of vitamin A (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2009)Government / parliament · 15 Apr 2009 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  7. GMC-07False

    “A study found rats fed GM maize got tumours, which proves GM food causes cancer.”

    Wrong. That 2012 French study, led by Gilles-Eric Séralini, was retracted (withdrawn) by the journal that published it, which said its results were inconclusive. It used a type of rat whose females very often grow breast tumours anyway. A later EU-funded study fed rats the same GM maize (corn) for up to 2 years and found no harmful effects.

    The 2012 study used Sprague-Dawley rats. The later EU study, published in 2019, used a type of rat that gets fewer tumours on its own, and tested the maize grown both with and without the weedkiller Roundup. The journal's editor said he found no sign of fraud, only that the results were not strong enough to draw conclusions. Some scientists argued the paper should not have been retracted.

    “no adverse effects related to the feeding of the NK603 maize cultivated with or without Roundup for up to 2 years were observed”
    Archives of Toxicology (open-access article on PubMed Central)·Lack of adverse effects in subchronic and chronic toxicity/carcinogenicity studies on the glyphosate-resistant genetically modified maize NK603 in Wistar Han RCC rats (Archives of Toxicology, 2019)Government / parliament · 12 Feb 2019 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  8. GMC-08Mostly false

    “GM cotton caused a wave of farmer suicides in India.”

    Mostly wrong. A 2011 review of the evidence found no sign that farmer suicides in India rose after GM (Bt) cotton arrived in 2002. It said that in some districts and years, failed Bt cotton may have added to farmers' debts, which can lead to suicide. But it found those failures were mainly caused by local conditions where the cotton was planted, and that Bt cotton worked well overall in India.

    The review does not say farmer suicides are not real, or that debt plays no part. It found no sign that they rose overall. A separate study that followed Indian cotton farm families found Bt cotton raised household living standards by 18% on average in 2006 to 2008. A 2020 article found farmers now spend more on pesticides than before Bt cotton, as pests adapted, which raises their costs.

    “Available data show no evidence of a 'resurgence' of farmer suicides.”
    Journal of Development Studies (abstract via PubMed, US National Library of Medicine)·Bt cotton and farmer suicides in India: an evidence-based assessment (Journal of Development Studies, 2011)Government / parliament · 27 Jan 2011 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  9. GMC-09Mostly true

    “GM crops have created superweeds that weedkiller can't kill.”

    Mostly right, but the weeds are not GM. They are ordinary weeds that evolved to survive glyphosate, the weedkiller many GM crops are built to withstand, after being sprayed again and again. A 2014 review said glyphosate resistance had been recorded in 24 weed species on six continents from 1998 to 2013, but no resistant weeds were found from 1972 to 1997.

    Weedkiller-tolerant GM crops arrived in 1996, and worldwide glyphosate use rose almost 15-fold after that. A 2016 study, using data up to 2014, found these crops made up about 56% of the world's glyphosate use. It says heavy reliance on glyphosate has spread resistant weeds, and that farmers often respond by spraying more, and more often. Newer GM crops are being built to survive other weedkillers too.

    “in the last 15 years (1998–2013), glyphosate resistance in 24 species on six continents has been documented”
    Pest Management Science (open-access article on PubMed Central)·Glyphosate resistance: state of knowledge (Pest Management Science, 2014)Government / parliament · 12 Mar 2014 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  10. GMC-10Mixed

    “Pests have evolved resistance to insect-killing GM crops, so the technology is failing.”

    Partly. Pests have become resistant in a growing number of cases worldwide: from 3 in 2005 to 16 in 2016. But in 17 other cases, pests had not become any less affected by the GM crops. So resistance is a real and rising problem, but the crops still work against many pests.

    These crops make an insect-killing protein first found in a type of bacterium (Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt). Each case means one pest species, in one country, against one Bt protein. Planting plenty of normal (non-GM) crops nearby, called refuges, has greatly slowed resistance. In India, a 2020 article found Bt cotton still controls one major pest, but another pest has become resistant.

    “The cases of pest resistance to Bt crystalline (Cry) proteins produced by transgenic crops increased from 3 in 2005 to 16 in 2016.”
    Nature Biotechnology·Surge in insect resistance to transgenic crops and prospects for sustainability (Nature Biotechnology, 2017)Peer-reviewed research · 11 Oct 2017 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  11. GMC-11Mixed

    “GM crops are wiping out monarch butterflies.”

    It's more complicated. A 2-year study published in 2001 found that pollen from insect-killing GM corn had a negligible (tiny) effect on monarch numbers. The bigger worry is weedkiller: spraying glyphosate on GM crops has cleared milkweed, the plant monarch caterpillars feed on, from many farm fields. But a 2019 study of museum records found monarchs and milkweed began declining around 1950, decades before GM crops.

    The eastern monarch population, measured where it spends the winter in Mexico, fell by over 80% from 1999 to 2016. The 2019 study found that a fall in the number of farms predicted milkweed trends better, so GM crops are likely not the main cause. Other scientists say the loss of milkweed on farms is still a key reason, and that planting more milkweed would help. When the 2001 study was done, Bt corn grew on 19% of North American corn land.

    “recent declines are actually part of a much longer-term decline in both monarchs and milkweed beginning around 1950”
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (open-access article on PubMed Central)·Monarch butterfly and milkweed declines substantially predate the use of genetically modified crops (PNAS, 2019)Government / parliament · 5 Feb 2019 ↗

    Further sources for this card

  12. GMC-12Mostly true

    “A handful of giant companies control the GM seed market.”

    Mostly right for GM traits, the built-in features that let a crop survive weedkiller or fight off pests. When the European Commission approved Bayer buying Monsanto in 2018, it said there were just four big companies in the world trait business, and that Monsanto was the leader. For big field crops like corn and soy, it counted six major seed companies worldwide.

    Monsanto was the world's largest seed supplier. The EU only allowed the deal after Bayer agreed to sell almost all of its own field-crop seed and trait business to BASF, a company that did not sell seeds before, so the number of big players would not shrink. It was the third big merger in a row among seed and farm-chemical companies, after Dow with DuPont and ChemChina with Syngenta. The EU judged the deal only on competition, not on food safety or the environment.

    “It would also ensure that the current number of global integrated traits players remained the same at four players (with DowDuPont and Syngenta)”
    European Commission·Mergers: Commission clears Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto, subject to conditions (press release IP/18/2282)Official statistics · 21 Mar 2018 ↗

    Further sources for this card

The judge is an AI model. It can only rule on claims these cards cover. Everything else stays unverified, and it never rules on opinions. See every motion's cards.