Herbicide-resistant plants:
So what about biodiversity?

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It was the biggest study ever carried out on the impacts on biodiversity of genetically modified, herbicide-resistant plants. The realistic planting trials were conducted between 1999 and 2002 at 270 sites in all regions of the UK to investigate various weed control concepts for the cultivation of maize, sugar beet, summer and winter rape. The results are still relevant

Essentially, the study reconfirmed that the more effective the weed control system, the greater the consequences for other wild plants and insects. This also applies to the new system consisting of GM crops and the complementary herbicide: if it is more effective than conventional weed control methods, biodiversity suffers. This was the case with oilseed rape and sugar beet, but the reverse was true for maize.

Farm Scale Evaluations (FSE) in the UK:  

• Results for winter rape: More grasses, fewer flowering plants (22 March 2005)

• Results for maize, beet and summer rape: fewer weeds and fewer butterflies (21 Oct. 2003)

Background

• "Taking a more differentiated view." Bernd Hommel talks about the results of the FSEs (27 Oct. 2003)

• "Radical plant protection is bad for self-regulation." Interview with Gesine Schütte (10 March 2004)

Debatte

• "The Europeans are rejecting a potentially powerful tool for producing better agriculture." Presentation by Brian Johnson, he was the initiator behind the Farm Scale Evaluations and was involved in its implementation.

 

Interview:
GM plants and ecosystem dynamics

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Outcrossing, gene flow, feralisation – plants are an integral part of the surrounding ecosystems. And these are not fixed, but constantly changing. Against this background, do genetically modified plants pose particular ecological risks? If so, what are they? GMO Safety carried out a series of interviews with scientists to find out.

• "Reversible processes." Interview with Inge Broer