Transgenic Crops, Agrobiodiversity, and Agroecosystem Function

I contend that GE crops will lead to further agricultural intensifica­ tion and ecological theory predicts that as long as transgenic crops follow closely the pesticide paradigm, such biotechnological prod­ ucts will do nothing but reinforce the pesticide treadmill in agroeco­ systems, thus legitimizing the concerns that many environmentalists and some scientists have expressed regarding the possible environ­ mental risks of genetically engineered organisms. In fact, there are sev­ eral widely accepted environmental drawbacks associated with the rapid deployment and widespread commercialization of such crops in large monocultures,8 including the following: 1. The spread of transgenes to related weeds or conspecifics via crop-weed hybridization.