www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Genetically Modified crops increase farm output, improve farmers' income and
significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study,
March 2007.

In 2005, biotech crops planted on 87 million hectares of land around the
world reduced carbon dioxide emissions by nine billion kg, which is
equivalent to removing nearly four million family cars from the road for an
entire year, according to a study by Graham Brookes, director of PG
Economics Limited of Dorchester, UK.

The study "GM Crops: The First 10 Years -- Global Socio-economic and
Environmental Impacts" was commissioned by Monsanto, the world's leading
provider of biotech crops.

Herbicide-tolerant biotech crops planted using conservation tillage
practices helped to retain carbon in the soil, as plowing allows naturally
occurring carbon dioxide to escape into the air, according to the study
published in peer-reviewed journal AgBioForum.

Also, Insect-resistant crops dramatically reduced the need for spraying,
while also significantly reducing farm fuel usage, it says.

"Simply put, biotech crops have changed the way people farm," Brookes said.

The study estimates that since their commercialisation in 1996, biotech
crops have saved farmers 1,679 million litres of fuel through reduced field
operations -- eliminating 4,613 million kg of carbon dioxide emissions.

Worldwide, use of biotech crops decreased the environmental impact of crop
production associated with pesticide use by more than 15 per cent, the study
says.

Since 1996, herbicide tolerant and insect-resistant biotech crops reduced
pesticide sprayings by 224 million kg of active ingredient -- a 6.9 per cent
reduction worldwide.

According to Brookes' estimates, biotech crops contributed $5 billion in net
farm-level economic benefit to farmers.

Combining biotech insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant traits in corn has
boosted farm income by more than $3.1 billion since the traits'
introductions, Brookes says.

According to a forecast by the International Service for the Acquisition of
Agri-Biotech Applications, biotech crops will be under cultivation in 40
countries by 2015 with at least 20 million farmers planting 200 million
acres annually.

[www.hindu.com]