THE GMO DEBATE

Roque Mario Craviotto sees how the use of genetically modified organisms have produced many positive results. Craviotto acknowleges how GMO usage has led to higher crop yields all over the planet. However, he also sees how the increased yields are achieved at the expense of a lower sustainability. This is due to the fact that so much soil is being used causing top soil to wear away and soil erosion to occur. He also finds that there is an inner fragility in the production of genetically modified seeds. The reason for this fragility is that there is a high dependance on large inputs of concentrated and nonrenewable resources. These non renewable resources have large impacts on our environment when they are used. Even more information shows the diminishing sustainability. Craviotto notes that "the environmental performance of the GMO production system is poor, based on a low 8% renewable emergy, and translating into an ESI (Emergy Sustainability Index) as low as 0.1" (par. 43). This statistically shows how only 8% of the emergy used is renewable which is very low and leads to a poor sustainability. However, conventional systems show an average production 40% lower than bio-tech systems. This 40% defecit occurs while 50% emergy is being invested into the bio-tech systems. This shows how even with less emergy invested, these bio-tech systems are producing more than double the amount of crops than conventional systems. Overall, Craviotto feels that the use of genetically modified organisms have resulted in benefits but at the expense of sustainability, which is why he feels that the use of GMOs need improvement.