Five reasons why you should love GMOs

1) GMOs reduce the use of pesticides

Pesticides can have hazardous effects on people’s health and the environment. It would be great if there was a way to reduce our reliance on pesticide use and GMOs do just that! A study from 2015 looked at genetically modified insect resistant technology from 1996 to 2013 and found some encouraging results:

“The adoption of GM insect resistant and herbicide tolerant technology has reduced pesticide spraying by 553 million kg (-8.6%) 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 19.1%. The technology has also facilitated important cuts in fuel use and tillage changes, resulting in a significant reduction in the release of greenhouse gas emissions from the GM cropping area. In 2013, this was equivalent to removing 12.4 million cars from the roads”

Furthermore, a 2014 meta-analysis of 147 studies from all over the world found similar positive effects:

“The authors found that crop yields increased by 22 percent, and increased farmer profits by 68 percent. They also found that GM technology has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37 percent. It was found that yield and profit gains are higher in developing countries than developed countries, though both net yield and economic impacts were still positive for developed countries.”

Thus, GMOs can reduce our reliance on pesticides, while helping the environment! That leads me to my next reason..