First, Super Weeds, now Super Insects, Thanks to Monsanto

[NickB79]

7. I place far as much, if not more, blame on the farmers than Monsanto

When these crops were first released, farmers were advised to plant patches of non-GM crops to act as biological reservoirs to prevent or slow resistance from developing. These refuges would serve as breeding grounds for non-resistant insects, allowing them to survive and breed with any resistant ones that arose.

I know this because my dad received such paperwork in the late 90's when he started growing Round-Up Ready soy and then BT corn. It was also widely published in the farming journals that most farmers subscribed to.

Instead, farmers (my dad included) decided it was more profitable to put 100% of their acreage into GM crops and boost their overall yields a few bushels per acre, future consequences be damned. The jump in crop prices over the past few years just added more fuel to this fire.

Monsanto's scientists knew this could happen, and they advised the farmers growing their crops about the risks. The farmers saw dollar signs and ran the biotech right into the ground.