The modification involves taking genes from a soil bacterium, called Bacillus thuringiensis, and making them part of the plants themselves. The Bt plants, as they are called, are toxic only to specific pests. That year, however, only 4 million acres of Bt corn were planted among the 80 million acres nationwide. In 1998, when 14 million acres of Bt corn were planted, corn borer infestation was extremely light, but farmers still realized an increase of 60 million bushels with the genetically modified corn. The biotech corn crop also resulted in 2 million fewer acres being sprayed with insecticides.
Corn is the largest acreage crop grown in the United States.
Up until now efforts to strengthen the plants' resistance through conventional breeding and use of chemical sprays have been inefficient and unsuccessful. Analysis of Bt cotton crops shows even more dramatic benefits from biotechnology. In 1998, Bt cotton accounted for 17 percent of the total cotton crop in the United States. Most of the biotech cotton acreage was planted in the Southeast, Mid-South and Arizona. Bt cotton boosted total yields by 85 million pounds.