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].
Another issue is the growing resistance of insects to GM Bt crops [http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?category=National&template=Farmerssuicide&slug=Farmers%20hit%20by%20failed%20Bt%20cotton%20crop%20in%20AP&id=84101&callid=1] [http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/failures092705.cfm] [http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2340&lpos=related_article1] [http://www.biotech-info.net/changes_in_refuge.html] [http://www.biotech-info.net/wrangling.html]. See also [http://www.grain.org/research/btcotton.cfm?id=302 BT Cotton in Andhra Pradesh - A Three Year Assessment] [http://www.ddsindia.com/www/PDF/BT_Cotton_-_A_three_year_report.pdf]. Also see [http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=330 BT Cotton in South Africa: The Case of the Makhathini Farmers] and [http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5741 Every Trick in the Book - The Marketing of BT Cotton in India].
==Herbicide in Your Food==
Pesticide Action Network has created a searchable database, [http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/index.jsp What's on my food], that one can use to easily find out which pesticides and pesticide residues are used on and remain on everyday fruits, vegetables, milk and meat.
==Increasing Resistance to GM Bt Crops==
Predictably, as with HT crops, there is growing resistance of insects to GM Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) crops [http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?category=National&template=Farmerssuicide&slug=Farmers%20hit%20by%20failed%20Bt%20cotton%20crop%20in%20AP&id=84101&callid=1] [http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/failures092705.cfm] [http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2340&lpos=related_article1] [http://www.biotech-info.net/changes_in_refuge.html] [http://www.biotech-info.net/wrangling.html]. See also [http://www.grain.org/research/btcotton.cfm?id=302 BT Cotton in Andhra Pradesh - A Three Year Assessment] [http://www.ddsindia.com/www/PDF/BT_Cotton_-_A_three_year_report.pdf]. Also see [http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=330 BT Cotton in South Africa: The Case of the Makhathini Farmers] and [http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5741 Every Trick in the Book - The Marketing of BT Cotton in India].
"This week [03/2012], a group of scientists sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urging farmers to stop planting genetically engineered corn with a certain gene because it will no longer protect them from the corn root worm.... 22 of the nation's top experts on corn pests lay out some of the implications of this discovery, and they are potentially profound. In order to slow down or prevent the spread of resistance, the scientists are calling for big changes in the way that biotech companies, seed dealers and farmers fight this insect. The scientists urge the agency to act 'with a sense of some urgency.'"
"the group's credentials are impressive. It includes most of the non-corporate researchers who are currently trying to evaluate the extent and consequences of corn rootworm resistance."
""It raises real questions about how stable this house of cards is,"" says Kenneth Ostlie, from the University of Minnesota."
[http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/148227668/insect-experts-issue-urgent-warning-on-using-gm-seeds?utm_source=Insect%20experts%20issue%20%2527urgent%2527%20warning%20on%20using%20GM%20seeds&utm_campaign=gmo&utm_medium=email Insect Experts Issue 'Urgent' Warning On Using Biotech Seeds]
==Harm to Wildlife==
As with other herbicides such as Atrazine, the use of Roundup has been linked to the decimation of frogs worldwide [http://www.umc.pitt.edu:591/m/FMPro?-db=ma&-lay=a&-format=d.html&id=2115&-Find]. This is truly unfortunate as it is estimated that a single frog can consume 10,000 garden/farm pests in a growing season [http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072909498/student_view0/biological_controls.html].
A related issue is news that GM Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) pollen, which Monsanto has engineered to be present in every cell of it's Bt crops, but also expressed in pollen, causes harm to non-target insects, e.g. [http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2007/2007-10-11-096.asp harm to caddisflies] [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B7GVS-4HVW8RG-5&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=947920523&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=16ae885be231679388298fa394a8270f harm to swallowtail butterflies] [http://www.eko.org.ee/gmo/images/stories/artiklid%20GMO%20probleemid/another_view_on_bt_proteins_-_hilbeck__schmidt.pdf harm to lacewings].
In 2001, Pioneer Hi-Bred, another biotechnology firm associated with Monsanto, developed a GM corn variety that contained two Bt toxins, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1, to kill corn rootworms. "The company asked university laboratories to test for unintended consequences on ladybugs. Scientists fed the corn to ladybugs and found that nearly 100% died after the eighth day in the life cycle. Pioneer forbade the scientists from publicizing the data. A scientist with the group who wants to remain anonymous said 'The company came back and said ‘you are under no circumstances able to publicize this data in any way’. Pioneer submitted data to the EPA showing no harm to ladybugs and received government approval to commercialize the corn in 2003. A Pioneer scientist says the commercialized variety contains a different genetic construct than the corn that killed the ladybugs. The EPA was told about the independently produced data, but did nothing, according to the anonymous scientist. The same scientist also says Pioneer’s data is flawed" <ref>The Organic and Non-GMO Report, [http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/nov09/gm_corn_killed_ladybugs.php "Journal article says suppressed study found GM corn killed ladybugs"] 2009</ref>. Read the ''Nature Biotechnology'' article here <ref>Emily Waltz, [http://www.emilywaltz.com/Biotech_crop_research_restrictions_Oct_2009.pdf "Under Wraps"], Nature Biotechnology, volume 27 number 10, October 2009.</ref>
==Unknown and Unintended Effects==