By Jonathan Benson
For the first time since their initial commercialization in the mid-1990s, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are on the decline in the industrialized world, says a new report by the pro-biotech lobbying group International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, or ISAAA.
Despite heavy promotion of the technology by the chemical industry, which has been hiding GMOs in the food supply for nearly 20 years, overall plantings of GM crops have dropped in places like Canada and the U.S. by about 2 percent, according to the report. And the crops hit the largest include both cotton and canola.
“Growth is plateauing as far as the major industrial countries are concerned,” stated Clive James, author of the new report and founder of the Ithica, New York-based ISAAA, to Businessweek. “The major trend is going to be in the developing countries, which for the second consecutive year planted more [GMOs] than industrial countries.”