Bitter harvest — 30 years of broken GMO promises

^{Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash}

Whatever happened to GM Golden Rice? And wasn’t GM salmon supposed to revolutionise aquaculture? Three decades after the first GMO crops were planted, Save Our Seeds, in collaboration with GMWatch, with contributions from Beyond GM, explores the fate of eight GMO promises once presented as game-changers. The conclusion: bold claims, dismal delivery.

In 1995, the US Department of Agriculture approved the first Bt maize and glyphosate-tolerant soybean, opening the way for large-scale cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops. The promises came thick and fast: GMOs would feed the world, reduce chemical use, and save children from malnutrition. Thirty years on, GM crops occupy just 13% of global arable land, and largely concentrated in a handful of countries. Most of the promises remain unmet.

Bigger yields, fewer chemicals?

The biotech industry pledged to “grow more with less” – less pesticide, less fertiliser, less environmental harm. GM crops were billed as a way to “reverse the Silent Spring scenario” described by Rachel Carson in her 1962 classic. They were said to boost yields, feed the hungry –...