 In August 2015, protests occurred in Hawaii over the possibility that birth defects were being caused by the heavy use of pesticides on new strains of GM crops being developed there.Hawaii uses 17 times the amount of pesticides per acre compared to the rest of the US.The development of glyphosate-tolerant (Roundup Ready) plants changed the herbicide use profile away from more persistent, higher toxicity herbicides, such as atrazine, metribuzin and alachlor, and reduced the volume and harm of herbicide runoff.