The loss of milkweed, Tangley writes, „is particularly acute in the U.S. Midwest, where genetically engineered, herbicide-tolerant corn and soybeans now allow farmers to apply the chemicals broadly, wiping out milkweed that once thrived between crop rows and in fallow fields on millions of acres of agricultural land.“

Robbins also points to the notorious but widely used herbicice Roundup, „a herbicide that kills virtually all plants except crops that are genetically modified to survive it.“