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SW: →Herbicide resistance and sales: new info
See also the report [http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/Contaminating_the_Wild_Report.pdf Contaminating the Wild?] Gene Flow from Experimental Field Trials of Genetically Engineered Crops to Related Wild Plants.
==Herbicide resistance and sales usage ==
There is now an attempt to verify worldwide how bad the problem of herbicide resistance has become. WeedScience documents (so far) "317 Resistant Biotypes, 183 Species (110 dicots and 73 monocots) and over 290,000 fields" [http://www.weedscience.org/] [http://www.farmassist.com/resistance/] [http://www.plantprotection.org/HRAC/]. Most of the resistances here are due to herbicide overuse in general however because those weeds tolerant of Roundup are closely associated with our food supply and the because of the ''ubiquity'' of Roundup Ready crops they are a particular concern. According to Monsanto the 2007 worldwide total of their GM crops are 234-242 million acres [http://www.monsanto.com/pdf/pubs/2007/Q32007Acreage.pdf].
"As RR corn acreage roughly tripled in the four years from 2002 to 2005, glyphosate use on corn has increased by more than seven-fold... Clearly, if present trends continue, glyphosate use on America’s most widely planted crop could easily increase by five- to ten-fold by the end of the decade" [http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/RR%20Soy%20MON%2089788%20Dereg%20-%20CFS%20comments-FINAL.pdf].
Remarkably "the USDA has announced it will completely eliminate the program [that tracks pesticide and herbicide use in agriculture] in 2008, due to budget cuts, and won't be collecting any data.... Benbrook finds the USDA's actions curious at a time when herbicide use on Roundup Ready crops has increased: 'The 2007 data would have shown an enormous increase in the pounds of herbicides applied on Roundup Ready crops, especially soybeans. The farm media has been full of stories over the past few years of the problems farmers are facing as weeds become resistant to Glyphosate and other herbicides. I find it curious that at the time of peak interest and need for solid information on pesticide use in soybeans that the Department of Agriculture has decided to stop collecting the data. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some quiet lobbying done by Monsanto to let the program lapse'" [http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/pesticide-data-program-cut-44052108]. Interestingly "the Agriculture Department is looking into purchasing that information for use in policymaking, but the data would likely not be made public" [http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/963306.html].
==Herbicide in Your Food==
