ABSTRACT

This paper assesses the environmental impacts associated with changes in pesticide use with GM crops at a global level. The main technologies impacting on pesticide use have been crops modified to be tolerant to specific herbicides so as to facilitate improved weed control and crops resistant to a range of crop insect pests that otherwise damage crops or typically require the application of insecticides to control them. Over the 24 year period examined to 2020, the widespread use of GM insect resistant and herbicide tolerant seed technology has reduced pesticide application by 748.6 million kg (−7.2%) of active ingredient and, as a result, decreased the environmental impact associated with insecticide and herbicide use on these crops (as measured by the indicator, the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ)) by a larger 17.3% between 1996 and 2020. The technology that has delivered the largest change in pesticide use has been insect resistant cotton, where a 339 million kg of active ingredient saving has occurred and the associated environmental impact (as measured by the EIQ indicator) has fallen by about a third.

摘要

本文评估了全球范围内转基因作物农药使用变化对环境的影响。影响农药使用的主要技术是对作物进行改良以耐受特定的除草剂，以促进改善杂草控制和作物对一系列作物害虫的抗性，否则这些害虫会损害作物或通常需要使用杀虫剂来控制它们。在截至 2020 年的 24 年期间，转基因抗虫和抗除草剂种子技术的广泛使用已将农药的施用量减少了 7.486 亿公斤（-7.2%），从而减少了与杀虫剂相关的环境影响1996 年至 2020 年间，这些作物的除草剂使用量（由指标环境影响商 (EIQ) 衡量）增加了 17.3%。