Health Impact News Editor Comments
More bad news for GMO seed suppliers in Brazil, where strong opposition to GMOs continues. We reported [1] earlier this year how the U.S. had a huge shipment of corn rejected at the border of China due to unapproved GMO corn in the shipment. China ordered corn from Brazil instead, giving them a major economic incentive to pursue non-GMO corn, as the U.S. is quickly losing the corn export market due to its value of GMO technology that other countries don’t share.
Now it is being reported by farmers in Brazil that the GMO corn is no longer protecting Brazilian farmers from destructive tropical bugs. They are seeking compensation for damages due to increased costs of pesticides to battle the problem.
Brazil farmers say GMO corn no longer resistant to pests
By Caroline Stauffer [2]
Reuters [2]
Excerpts:
Genetically modified corn seeds are no longer protecting Brazilian farmers from voracious tropical bugs, increasing costs as producers turn to pesticides, a farm group said on Monday.
Producers want four major manufacturers of so-called BT corn seeds to reimburse them for the cost of spraying up to three coats of pesticides this year, said Ricardo Tomczyk, president of Aprosoja farm lobby in Mato Grosso state.
“The caterpillars should die if they eat the corn, but since they didn’t die this year producers had to spend on average 120 reais ($54) per hectare … at a time that corn prices are terrible,” he said.
Large-scale farming in the bug-ridden tropics has always been a challenge, and now Brazil’s government is concerned that planting the same crops repeatedly with the same seed technologies has left the agricultural superpower vulnerable to pest outbreaks and dependent on toxic chemicals.
Read the Full Article Here [2].