Who benefits from GMOs?
Genetically modified foods are benefiticial to consumers and farmers all around the world. They increase yields and aid the world economy. These crops, which are herbicide resistant or drought tolerant, are easy to harvest and perfectly safe to eat. They compliment traditional farming and can even be modified for nutrional benefit.
Citation 3.1
This infographic was provided by the Genetic Literacy Project.
BIOTECH CROPS CAN HELP ADDRESS THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS
CROP BIOTECHNOLOGY HELPS SMALL FARMERS
BIOTECH CROPS SPUR GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH
FARMING USING GM CROPS REDUCES CHEMICAL USE
BIOTECH CROPS INCREASE YIELDS
BIOTECH CROPS HELP INCREASE INCOME OF POORER FARMERS,
REDUCING POVERTY AND MALNUTRITION
FARMING WITH BIOTECH CROPS IS SUSTAINABLE
FOODS TWEAKED BY BIOTECHNOLOGY ARE SAFE TO EAT
GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS IMPROVE NUTRITION AND HEALTH
GM CROPS AND FOODS COMPLEMENT CONVENTIONAL FARMING
Biotechnology has helped farmers grow 311.8 million tons more of food in the last 15 years.
(source: www.croplife.org)
90% of the 17 million farmers who grew biotech crops are resource-poor with farms of
less than 10 hectares. The growth rate for biotech crops is at least three times as fast and five times as large in developing countries than industrialized countries. (source, ISAAA, New York Times)
Economic benefits of GM crops amount to an average of over $130/hectare. In the
last 16 years, planted biotech crop acres have increased 100 fold from 1.7 million hectares to
170 million hectares. (source: ISAAA)
Biotechnology saves the equivelant of $21,000 pounds of pesticides each year and
helps cut herbicide runoff by 70 percent. (source:ISAAA, PG Economics)
Productivity in GM crops has delivered gains in some cases that are 7-20% higher than conventional
varieties (which are on average 33 percent higher than organic yields). (sources: Nature, PG Economics)
As the rate of Indian farmers adopting GM cotton has grown, calorie consumption linked to
increased incomes has grown and undernourishment in families has dropped, translating into a
15-20 percent reduction in food insecurity if all the non-Bt adopters in India alone take to
this technology. (source: PLOS)
GM crops in general need fewer field operations, such as tillage, which allows more residue to remain
in the ground, sequestering more CO2 in the soil and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2011,
these practices were equivelant to removing 10.2 million cars from the road for one year.
(source: PG Economics)
Over 25 years of independent research, there is no documented evidence of harm to human
health or deaths from consumption of GM foods since they were introduced to the market. NONE.
(sources: National Research Council, European Commission)
The new generation of GM crops - Golden Rice, which delivers vitamin A enhanced rice, high
carotene mustard seed oil, Vitamin A enhanced cassava, enriched sweet potatoes and even
edible vaccines - are just a few innovations awaiting approval.
(source: Plant Physiology, Journal of American College of Nutrition, Gates Foundation)
Independent scientists reject claims that GM crops or animals "contaminate" or anyway
endanger our food supply or produce dangerous "Trojan genes". (source: NPR, Nature, USDA)