Abstract
Herbicide use is among the most criticized aspects of modern farming, especially as it relates to genetically engineered (GE) crops. Many previous analyses have used flawed metrics to evaluate herbicide intensity and toxicity trends. Here, I show that herbicide use intensity increased over the last 25 years in maize, cotton, rice and wheat. Although GE crops have been previously implicated in increasing herbicide use, herbicide increases were more rapid in non-GE crops. Even as herbicide use increased, chronic toxicity associated with herbicide use decreased in two out of six crops, while acute toxicity decreased in four out of six crops. In the final year for which data were available (2014 or 2015), glyphosate accounted for 26% of maize, 43% of soybean and 45% of cotton herbicide applications. However, due to relatively low chronic toxicity, glyphosate contributed only 0.1, 0.3 and 3.5% of the chronic toxicity hazard in those crops, respectively.
Highlights
Herbicide use is among the most criticized aspects of modern farming, especially as it relates to genetically engineered (GE) crops
A recent National Academy of Sciences report strongly recommended against using such non-risk assessment based approaches: ‘Researchers should be discouraged from publishing data that compares total kilograms of herbicide used per hectare per year because such data can mislead readers’[7]
Herbicide area-treatments were calculated to quantify trends in herbicide use intensity
Summary
Herbicide use is among the most criticized aspects of modern farming, especially as it relates to genetically engineered (GE) crops. The EIQ combines risk factors for several aspects of toxicity and environmental health, and is perceived as a simple tool for comparing herbicides. The EIQ suggests the water used to dilute and apply pesticides will typically have a greater negative environmental impact than even the most toxic herbicides[12]. To limit the complexity of data presentation while still presenting useful, relevant information, I have chosen two aspects of herbicide use to analyze and present in-depth The objective of this analysis was to quantify changes in herbicide use patterns in GE and non-GE crops over the last 25 years in the United States as they relate to (1) the number of herbicides being applied, and (2) the relative toxicity of the herbicides that are being used. Chronic and acute toxicity hazard associated with herbicides has remained constant or even declined in many cases
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