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More generally, I'm a proponent of the philosophical view that the FDA and EPA should allowlist things, not denylist. A pesticide, GMO technique, additive, dye, preservative, etc. should be proven via clinical trials before being allowed, not allowed by default until proven harmful.
As it is, this allow-by-default makes the US population the test case for everything at once, making causes of harm difficult to trace (as certain vendors are financially incentivized to want them to be). Furthermore, regulators can be bought via lobbyists, preventing things from being banned until long after their harmfulness is well-known.
Wanting to do things better is nice, but it's no excuse for failing to sufficiently test new things in isolation.
I agree with this 100%. I believe that it used to be that way in the USA until the burden of proof was shifted by the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, although I am not entirely clear on this.
That aside,
> GMOs can reduce need for pesticide and insecticide use
A funny thing happened on the way to quarterly report. I believe that the most popular GMO product line is Roundup Ready [0], and it does the exact opposite. It allows the creator's cash cow product to be applied more liberally.
If you had to do several targeted sprayings over a growing season vs 1 mass spraying at a critical point, you could end up spraying more. I would think the main selling point is ease of use but economics is going to play into it.
If you have Farmer A who has to buy the seeds and spray + is using more spray vs Farmer B who is using their own seeds and less spray, who is going to make more money?
> While the use of Roundup Ready crops has increased the usage of herbicides measured in pounds applied per acre ...
So Roundup usage has increased but other herbicide usage decreased: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrazine Banned in EU, may cause cancer, causes Birth Defects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metribuzin No info on Wiki about toxicity, only groundwater contamination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alachlor Banned in EU, no current products in US. Multiple Organ damage + Cancer
So should we go back to using more of stuff that we know is very bad or use the less bad stuff until we get even better less bad?
No herbicide is risking crop failure and starvation.
Either that or just have some blanket warning on them that the product wasn't tested for safety.