Who benefits from GMO foods? |
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The potential economic benefits of GMO food include the
profits to the gene supplier, seed companies, and farmers; consumer costs; and producer and consumer
welfare in the rest of the world. Identifying these benefits precisely is difficult, but some
recent estimates are available. Based on 1997 data, one study estimated the total annual
benefits of U.S. Bt cotton adoption at $216 million, HT cotton at ($232 million, and HT
soybeans at $307 million (elasticity-based estimates from Price, Lin, Falck-Zepeda 2001).
However, adoption levels in the U.S. are now four or five times higher than in the year
of that study. The distribution of those benefits is also difficult to estimate, but Price,
Lin and Falck-Zepeda argue that only a small percentage goes to farmers, the majority
going to consumers in the U.S. and other countries. Another study (Anderson and Jackson 2004) suggests that free adoption of GM technology globally would provide $2.3 billion in yearly world net benefits to producers and consumers. A European Union moratorium on the production and importation of GM products, on the other hand, generates a yearly world net loss of $1.2 billion, comprised of a net loss of $3.1 billion to the EU itself and a net gain of $1.9 billion to the rest of the world. These figures ignore the concerns of those who worry that GM foods may be nutritionally or environmentally unsafe. References: Anderson, K., and L.A. Jackson. "Standards, Trade, and Protection: The Case of GMOs." Paper presented at the American Agricultural Economics Association annual meetings, Denver, July 31 - August 4, 2004. Gregory K. Price, William Lin, and Jose B. Falck-Zepeda, "The Distribution of Benefits Resulting from Biotechnology Adoption." Presented at American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting Chicago, Illinois August 5-8, 2001 ~
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