Inserting transgenes into major plant metabolic pathways is a risky proposition that is likely to lead to unanticipated consequences, especially when plants are stressed by unusual weather, pests, or infertile or imbalanced soils. Even modest and short-term depression in the production of key regulatory aromatic amino acids in RR soybean varieties can tip the competitive edge toward opportunistic pathogens. Once pathogens gain a head start, the plant will have to invest energy in fighting them back and containing their spread. The lack of independent research on the ecological, agronomic and plant defense consequences of RR soybeans, until well after regulatory approvals and widespread market penetration, blindsided regulators and has heightened the vulnerability of farmers. It is remarkable that over 100 million acres of Roundup Ready soybeans were planted in America before publication in 2001 of the first university data documenting the sometimes serious depression of nitrogen fixation in RR soybean fields.
Ignorance creates a false sense of security and sets the stage for trouble.
The U.S. regulatory system is better at avoiding problems that dealing with them once a technology is entrenched, with profits and market share to defend. In the case of RR soybeans, the regulatory system's ability to ferret out risks and resolve uncertainties was, in effect, silenced because regulators had little to go on in formulating questions. Moving On Understanding should evolve quickly now that several independent research teams have started to publish results on the downsides of the RR soybean system. But the mechanisms leading to RR soybean yield losses are many, complex and highly variable. Scientists will struggle to just keep pace with soybean weed management changes and many problems will come and go before anyone understands fully where they came from and why.