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# Impacts of genetically engineered crops on pesticide use in the U.S. -- the first sixteen years
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/gmo_1122140241/
- Published: 2014-11-22T13:19:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T14:28:34.000Z
- Description: Charles Benbrook's paper in Environmental Sciences Europe models how six transgenic pest-management traits changed U.S. pesticide use from 1996 to 2011, and reports that herbicide-resistant crop technology drove a 239 million kilogram increase.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: GMO, Food Safety, #vivvo-import

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Impacts of genetically engineered crops on pesticide use in the U.S. -- the first sixteen years

**Charles M Benbrook**

- Correspondence: Charles M Benbrook [cbenbrook@wsu.edu](mailto:cbenbrook@wsu.edu)

[Author Affiliations](http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24?fmt%5Fmath=no&ref=foodconsumer.org)

Centre for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, Washington State University, Hulbert 421, PO Box 646242, Pullman, WA, 99164-6242, USA

*Environmental Sciences Europe* 2012, **24**:24 doi:10.1186/2190-4715-24-24

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at:[http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24](http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24?ref=foodconsumer.org)

| Received:  | 28 June 2012      |
| ---------- | ----------------- |
| Accepted:  | 3 September 2012  |
| Published: | 28 September 2012 |

© 2012 Benbrook; licensee Springer.   

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0?ref=foodconsumer.org)), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Formula display:[](http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/mathjax?ref=foodconsumer.org)

### Abstract

#### Background

Genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant and insect-resistant crops have been remarkable commercial successes in the United States. Few independent studies have calculated their impacts on pesticide use per hectare or overall pesticide use, or taken into account the impact of rapidly spreading glyphosate-resistant weeds. A model was developed to quantify by crop and year the impacts of six major transgenic pest-management traits on pesticide use in the U.S. over the 16-year period, 1996–2011: herbicide-resistant corn, soybeans, and cotton; *Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)*corn targeting the European corn borer; *Bt* corn for corn rootworms; and *Bt* cotton for Lepidopteron insects.

#### Results

Herbicide-resistant crop technology has led to a 239 million kilogram (527 million pound) increase in herbicide use in the United States between 1996 and 2011, while *Bt* crops have reduced insecticide applications by 56 million kilograms (123 million pounds). Overall, pesticide use increased by an estimated 183 million kgs (404 million pounds), or about 7%.

#### Conclusions

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. If new genetically engineered forms of corn and soybeans tolerant of 2,4-D are approved, the volume of 2,4-D sprayed could drive herbicide usage upward by another approximate 50%. The magnitude of increases in herbicide use on herbicide-resistant hectares has dwarfed the reduction in insecticide use on *Bt* crops over the past 16 years, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

##### Keywords: 

Herbicide-resistant crops; Herbicide-tolerant soybeans; Glyphosate; 2,4-D; *Bt* crops; Genetically engineered corn; Roundup Ready crops; Biotechnology and pesticide use; Glyphosate resistant weeds.Full length report was published [here](http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24?fmt%5Fmath=no&ref=foodconsumer.org)