In this section:

• Summary
• New Research
• Contamination
• Increased Pesticide Use
• Increased resistance to Roundup
• Harm to wildlife
• In the News: Environmental Impacts

Summary:

A review of the Monsanto web site will find considerable information, but rarely does Monsanto acknowledge or provide peer reviewed or any relevant studies that are critical of, or raise concerns over GE crops (the exceptions being high profile stories – such as corn root leaking Bt into the soil – that they could not possibly ignore). Some critical studies are listed in its literature but Monsanto rarely provides a discussion of these implications.  

Virtually none of the information on this website can be found on Monsanto’s web site. In short, it would take a trained scientist to find even a minimal amount of information that identifies risks of GE crops on Monsanto’s web site – a task that is beyond the capabilities of most investors or the general public.

New Research:

During 2004 there were several important new university, independent and governmental studies on genetically engineered (GE) crops. Predominant among these was research that added to the growing documentation of contamination of non-GE crops by GE crops. As long-term shareholders may recall, when Monsanto first released these products several years ago they claimed that contamination would not be a factor due to refuge and other preventive measures. These days their 10K and annual reports regularly identify contamination (referred to as "adventitious presence") as a given, yet fails to identify a business strategy to address it.

While Monsanto's web site provides considerable information on GE crops, there is virtually little coverage of any study critical of GE crops that would allow investors a more balanced view of the potential risks of these products or the company's business strategy. 

For example, one of Monsanto's most consistent claims is that Roundup decreases pesticide use . Yet the most definitive look at this was a 2004 study “Genetically Engineered Crops and Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Nine Years,"that reviewed USDA data and found that the overall volume of pesticides applied to GE corn, soybeans, and cotton has increased 122.4 million pounds between 1996 and 2004 (typically the usage of pesticides first falls but then climbs steadily as resistance increases). This study is neither on the Monsanto web site nor addressed by the company in any way . For a PDF version of the report, click here.

Studies that have come out in 2004 and that should be considered for the current shareholder resolution and proxy vote include:

• A National Academy of Science report on "Biological Confinement of Genetically Engineered Organisms" found that preventing contamination of non-GE crops or wild relatives by GE was not possible in most cases with current technology. http://www.nap.edu/books/0309090857/html/
• A EPA study showed that GE turf grass had a much greater extent of contamination then Monsanto had predicted.   The resulting first-ever full Environmental Impact Statement on a GE crop, currently in process at USDA, and opposition from other U.S. agencies may scuttle this product.
• A Union of Concerned Scientists study "Gone to Seed" found that GE DNA is contaminating US seeds of corn, soybeans and canola. http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/biotechnology/page.cfm?pageID=1315  
• The organic and conventional papaya industry in Hawaii and Thailand reported widespread contamination from Monsanto's GE papaya.  
• A recent study showed that the non-Bt refuges designed to prevent Bt resistant insects from developing, was itself found to be contaminated by Bt genes.  This could reduce the ability of refuges to prevent resistance.  
• A study of United States Department of Agriculture data found that pesticide use on GE crops increased by 4% over the last 9 years. 
• Peer reviewed studies show Roundup-resistant weeds are developing at increasing frequency, and will likely begin to make Roundup Ready crops less attractive.  In 2004 Roundup resistant ragweed and hairy fleabane were confirmed and Roundup resistant morning glories reported.  
• Just last month, 10 university weed scientists issued a statement saying that since 2000, Roundup resistant horseweed has increased from one reported field in Delaware to 11 additional states so far; infesting over 1.5 million acres in Tennessee alone.  The scientists also recommend that roundup be rotated with different herbicides.  That would likely mean less Roundup used/sold on those crops if followed, because roundup is often now used continuously on RR crops.
• Farm Scale studies performed in England determined that Roundup Ready sugar beet and Roundup Ready canola reduce food sources for birds in crop fields.  This could imperil approval for planting in Europe.

U.S. GM corn is assailed: NAFTA report calls grain a threat to Mexico; administration disputes study,
November 10, 2004
Washington Post A scientific panel of international experts has concluded that the unintended spread of U.S. genetically modified corn in Mexico -- where the species originated and modified plants are not allowed -- poses a potential threat that should be limited or stopped. But the United States yesterday attacked the report and its conclusions as unscientific, and made clear it did not intend to accept the recommendations. The report, written by a group convened under the North American Free Trade Agreement, rejected the U.S. position that the modified corn is, in effect, no different than conventionally bred corn hybrids. It said that because the Mexican government has never examined or approved the use of transgenic crops, their presence in the country is an inherent problem.

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Genes from engineered grass spread for miles, study finds
New York Times, September 21, 2004
A new study shows that genes from genetically engineered grass can spread much farther than previously known, a finding that raises questions about the straying of other plants altered through biotechnology and that could hurt the efforts of two companies to win approval for the first bioengineered grass.

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GM pollen spreads much farther than previously thought
Scientific American ,  September 21, 2004
Researchers have tracked the spread of genes from genetically modified (GM) grass plants to measure how far wind carries their pollen. They report in a paper published online today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the modified genes appeared in normal plants up to 21 kilometers away, and also showed up in close relatives of the original plants. The results bolster concerns about the unintentional spread of genes from GM crops.

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GM weedkiller use increases
Farmers Weekly, U.K., October 28, 2004
A NEW study reveals that while US pesticide use dropped during the three first years of commercial GM crop cultivation, it has increased sharply thereafter. GM maize, soybeans and cotton have led to a 55,000 tonnes increased in pesticide use since 1996, according to the study published by the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center. The study, conducted by Charles Benbrook, a former Executive Director of the Board on Agriculture of the US National Academy of Science, therefore concludes the biotech industry's claims that GM crops help reduce the use of pesticides are unfounded.

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Scientists warn on provision of food for next generations
October 26, 2004
IC WalesEurope must ditch GM crops and invest in sustainable agriculture now if it wants to provide enough food for future generations, scientists have warned. Scientific evidence has turned decisively against genetically-modified crops and in favour of non-GM sustainable agriculture, according to a new publication, The Independent Science Panel Report, The Case for a GM Free Sustainable World. The report's findings were released at a conference on GM crops hosted by Plaid Cymru Deputy Leader, Jill Evans MEP, at the European Parliament in Brussels.

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Genetically engineered crops apparently hard to confine. In small sampling, traditional seeds show some contamination
February 24, 2004, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Traditional varieties of corn, soybean and canola seeds were found to have low levels of contamination from genetically engineered DNA in a limited analysis of seed samples by an environmental advocacy group. The authors of the report say the finding suggests that such contamination poses a growing threat to U.S. agricultural exports, the burgeoning organic food industry and, ultimately, consumer health.

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 Many 'organic' foods contain GM ingredients, claims study
February 9, 2004, Cordis News
A wide range of organic or health food products on sale in the UK contain traces of genetically modified (GM) ingredients, according to a study due to be published in April. Professor Mark Partridge and Professor Denis Murphy, from the biotechnology unit at the University of Glamorgan, UK, tested 25 products containing soya using an EU approved method for detecting traces of GM ingredients. They found that 10 of the 25 samples tested positive for traces of GM ingredients, even though eight of the positive samples had been labelled 'GM free' or 'organic'. Four of the products that showed traces of GM were above the UK Soil Association's limit for organic food, including one vegetarian sausage mix which contained 0.7 per cent GM soya. 'We have recently observed that many soya products now carry 'GM free' or 'organic' labels, both of which imply an absence of GM ingredients in these foods,' said Professor Murphy. 'However, most of the soya now produced in the world comes from GM varieties.

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Genetically modified organisms not easily contained National Research Council panel urges more work to protect against contamination of food supply
January 20, 2004, Washington Post
Techniques for confining genetically engineered salmon, corn and other organisms are still in their infancy, and far more work needs to be done to make sure the new products do not taint the food supply or wipe out important species, a National Research Council panel said today. To date, most attempts to control potentially hazardous, gene-altered species that are grown outdoors have involved establishing physical barriers, like rows of trees, or altering planting times to make sure crops cannot cross-breed with related plants nearby. But those techniques have proven susceptible to human error, and researchers have long recognized that physical methods are likely to become even less useful as gene-altered insects and other animals begin to emerge from the nation's laboratories.

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Biggest study of impact on environment gives critics a field day
October 17, 2003, Independent ( UK)
The largest and most comprehensive study of the effects of GM crops on the environment was published in full yesterday, giving critics and supporters further ammunition for their increasingly acrimonious dispute. It is the first time anywhere in the world that such an extensive investigation of farmland ecology has been made to compare the indirect effects of growing conventional versus genetically modified crops. The study also broke new ground because no government before had sanctioned an investigation into the potential environmental impacts of a new farming technique, said Professor Chris Pollock, chairman of the scientific steering committee which oversaw the trials.

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Study: Only some GM crops harmful
October 17, 2003
CBS/APWildlife suffered in fields of some genetically modified crops, but flourished in others, according to a government study released Thursday. Ultimately, the results weren't clear-cut and are expected to increase the rancorous debate over biotechnology roiling most of Europe. The results of the $9.6 million, three-year study designed to gauge biotechnolgy's effects on wildlife left both sides of the genetic engineering debate claiming victory. Fields of genetically engineered oilseed rape and beets were more harmful to wildlife than plots of conventionally grown crops. Biotech maize fields, though, were more hospitable than conventionally grown maize plots. The three engineered crops were spliced with bacteria genes to make them more resistant than conventional crops to certain herbicides. The study's conclusions said more about the impact herbicides had on wildlife than about biotechnology itself, the authors said.

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Study heightens fears over GM superweeds
October 10, 2003, Independent ( UK)
Cross-pollination between GM plants and their wild relatives is inevitable and could create hybrid superweeds resistant to the most powerful weed killers, according to the first national study of how genes pass from crops to weeds. Its findings will raise concerns about the impact of GM crops. Next week the results will be published of farm-scale trials that have studied the impact on the countryside of three types of crop. The government-funded scientists said the latest findings "contrast" with previous assessments of gene flow between farm crops and weeds. They had suggested that the danger of hybridization - where two types of plant cross-pollinate to create another, for example a superweed - was limited. Superweeds are considered to be a threat because, in some cases, they might absorb resistance to weed killers from GM crops engineered to be herbicide-tolerant. But the results of the research, which involved analyzing satellite images of the British countryside and patrolling 180 miles of river banks, reveal that hybridization is both more widespread and frequent than previously anticipated.

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