RoundUp Ready Crops

 Herbicides are substances that are toxic to plants. Genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops are crops that have been genetically altered to allow farmers to use herbicides that will kill unwanted vegetation, without harming their crops. One of the most known examples of a genetically modified herbicide resistant crop is the Roundup resistant GMO. These crops have been genetically altered to withstand the herbicide glyphosate (Hsaio, 2015).

Glyphosate 

Glyphosate is one of the most commonly used herbicides used for weed control. Glyphosate was first discovered in 1970 (Dobson, Giesy, & Solomon, 2000). In 1996, the company Monsanto introduced the Roundup Ready soybean, which is a genetically engineered crop that is resistant to glyphosate. Scientists created these Roundup resistant crops by taking the desired gene that was resistant to RoundUp and inserting it into the crops farmers planted. Farmers could now spray a whole field with RoundUp and not worry about their crop dying (Wilkerson, 2017).

Disadvantages 

Currently, crops that have been genetically turned into RoundUp Ready Crops are soy, maize, canola, sugar beets, cotton, and alfalfa. Although these crops may appear to solve the problem of weeds, a large concern associated with Roundup Ready crops is that consumers are now eating crops that have been sprayed with chemicals and since it is easier to just spray all of your genetically engineered crops with Roundup (Wilkerson, 2017).

A report from the US Department of Agriculture on pesticide use shows that an additional 383 million pounds of herbicides have been used since RoundUp Ready crops were created. This means that there are higher concentrations of glyphosate on the crops, which created a larger possibility of runoff into other ecosystems (Wilkerson, 2017).