Transgenic Crops Get Good Marks in General in US Study

26 April 2010

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

American farmers first planted genetically engineered crops in nineteen ninety-six. Today eighty percent of the cropland for soybeans, maize and cotton in the United States is transgenic. Genetic engineering adds or changes genes in a plant to produce desired qualities.

The United States is one of twenty-five countries where farmers planted genetically engineered crops in two thousand nine. An agricultural biotechnology group says planting decreased in Europe. But the amount of cropland planted with the crops rose by an estimated seven percent worldwide.

The National Research Council, part of the National Academies in Washington, recently published a study. The study examined how genetically engineered crops have affected farming in the United States. It found that many farmers have better harvests, better weed control and fewer losses from insect damage compared to traditional crops.

LaReesa Wolfenbarger is a University of Nebraska biology professor and a member of the committee that wrote the report. She says they found that genetically engineered crops can be better for the environment.

LAREESA WOLFENBARGER: "In general, we find that genetically engineered crops have had fewer adverse effects on the environment than non-GE crops produced conventionally."