Despite European Objections, GM Agriculture Marches On
Worldwide use of genetically modified crops grew by 15 percent last year, according to a report by the industry-backed International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications. In 1996, the year GM crops were made commercially available, 4.3 million acres were used for biotech cultivated crops. By 2003, that number had risen to 167.2 million acres — some 18 percent of all cultivated land. Despite stiff resistance across much of Europe and from several international environmental and scientific groups, the ISAAA predicts that GM will continue to grow at a fast clip. In related news, the U.K. government’s scientific advisors gave provisional approval for the planting of GM corn in the country as soon as this spring, which would be the first commercial GM plantings in the nation. Resistance is futile.
