In the case of an emergency pest outbreak, shouldn pesticide be used?
Perhaps, but only as a last resort. Alternative strategies should be put into place first, and the short and long term effects of any proposed pesticide use fully considered. And al information about the decision should be published for the press and public to review. • Won’t biotechnology make pesticides unnecessary? Not if current trends continue. Some of the most advanced research in biotechnology is being carried out by the large transnational chemical corporations (TNCs’), with profit as the goal. While some companies are trying to engineer disease and pesticide-resistant crops, others are making crops more pesticide-resistant. For instance, one of the main ‘problem’ with herbicides is that they not only kill weeds, but can damage the very crops they are supposed to protect. Because this limits the use (and sale) of herbicides, at least 28 TNCs have launched over 65 research programmes to engineer herbicide?resistant crop varieties. The giant TNC, Monsanto, expects to have cotton
