You have that completely wrong. GMO's ushered in reduced pesticide use and the pesticides that are used are safer. I say this as a fertilizer company agronomist that was working when GMO's appeared. The amount of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) around GMO's is high.
The only papers I've seen that indicate GMO has reduced pesticide use were published by various industry groups with unclear ties to pesticide manufacturers. Academic papers seem to indicate pesticide use is higher, especially as the pests develop a resistance to the pesticide. E.g. https://enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/2190-471...
> Contrary to often-repeated claims that today’s genetically-engineered crops have, and are reducing pesticide use, the spread of glyphosate-resistant weeds in herbicide-resistant weed management systems has brought about substantial increases in the number and volume of herbicides applied.
I meant herbicides, so my original comment is wrong.
That said, I’d be surprised if GMO really has managed to reduce pesticide usage. I’m pretty skeptical of big-tobacco-like scientific studies. Do you know of a good study that shows this, and which isn’t funded by Bayer or some similarly motivated company?
