Six years of growing genetically modified (GM) food crops in North America have been a “practical and economic disaster”, claims a report by the Soil Association, a U.K. campaigning and certification organization for organic food and farming. Seeds of Doubt finds that North American farmers have made lower profits, experienced lower yields than predicted and become more reliant on herbicides. The report warns that non-GM farmers are finding it very hard or impossible to grow GM-free crops because of widespread GM contamination. It estimates that GM crops may have cost the U.S. economy $12 billion from 1999 to 2001 in lost exports, lower prices and product recalls.

The authors interviewed organic and conventional farmers, academics and industry analysts. The report can be found at www.soilassociation.org/sa/saweb.nsf/librarytitles/seedsofdoubt_summary.html