Why GMOs Are Antithetical to Biodiversity

by Jill Richardson · 2009-05-30 23:14:00 UTC
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cornWhen it comes to GMOs, there are a lot of reasons to be against them. Some people fear their affects on human health. Others do not like the way companies can sue farmers for saving seeds. Some criticize them for promising the world to farmers but not delivering. And each one of these points can be debated. But I want to talk about a critique of GMOs that seems to be very clearcut and absolutely unavoidable: their threat to biodiversity.

Let's say you're a company. You make GMO seeds. But what you really want to make is profit. So, while you could develop tens, hundreds, or even thousands of varieties of each crop that are adapted to each unique climate, soil conditions, etc, all over the U.S. or the world, that's expensive! And there are only so many acres in the world that are planted in each crop (corn, soy, etc). Your potential to sell, say, GM corn is capped by the number of acres planted in corn in each of the countries that allows GMOs. Why spend all that money to develop many varieties of GM corn if all it's doing is cutting in your profit due to extra R&D costs? It's much more profitable to develop one (or maybe a few) varieties of GM corn and then sell them to everybody. You've wrecked biodiversity, but hey, you made money!

(Photo credit: befe on flickr.com)

Jill Richardson
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