Abstract
Given
the increasing awareness and appreciation of issues such as global
warming and the impact of mankind's activities such as agriculture on
the global environment, this paper updates previous assessments of the
environmental impact of an important and relatively new technology, crop
biotechnology has had on global agriculture. It focuses on the
environmental impacts associated with changes in pesticide use and
greenhouse gas emissions arising from the use of GM crops. The adoption
of the technology has reduced pesticide spraying by 474 million kg
(-8.9%) and, as a result, decreased the environmental impact associated
with herbicide and insecticide use on these crops [as measured by the
indicator the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ)] by 18.1%. The
technology has also facilitated a significant reduction in the release
of greenhouse gas emissions from this cropping area, which, in 2011, was
equivalent to removing 10.22 million cars from the roads.
Full text: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.4161/gmcr.24459#.VNjOzS5avDc
Full text: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.4161/gmcr.24459#.VNjOzS5avDc
