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Planting GMOs Kills So Many Bugs That It Helps Non-GMO Crops (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: One of the great purported boons of GMOs is that they allow farmers to use fewer pesticides, some of which are known to be harmful to humans or other species. Bt corn, cotton, and soybeans have been engineered to express insect-killing proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, and they have indeed been successful at controlling the crops' respective pests. They even protect the non-Bt versions of the same crop that must be planted in adjacent fields to help limit the evolution of Bt resistance. But new work shows that Bt corn also controls pests in other types of crops planted nearby, specifically vegetables. In doing so, it cuts down on the use of pesticides on these crops, as well.
Entomologists and ecologists compared crop damage and insecticide use in four agricultural mid-Atlantic states: New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Their data came from the years before Bt corn was widespread (1976-1996) and continued after it was adopted (1996-2016). They also looked at the levels of the pests themselves: two different species of moths, commonly known as the European corn borer and corn earworm. They were named as scourges of corn, but their larvae eat a number of different crops, including peppers and green beans. After Bt corn was planted in 1996, the number of moths captured for analysis every night in vegetable fields dropped by 75 percent. The drop was a function of the percentage of Bt corn planted in the area and occurred even though moth populations usually go up with temperature. So the Bt corn more than counteracted the effect of the rising temperatures we've experienced over the quarter century covered by the study.
Entomologists and ecologists compared crop damage and insecticide use in four agricultural mid-Atlantic states: New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Their data came from the years before Bt corn was widespread (1976-1996) and continued after it was adopted (1996-2016). They also looked at the levels of the pests themselves: two different species of moths, commonly known as the European corn borer and corn earworm. They were named as scourges of corn, but their larvae eat a number of different crops, including peppers and green beans. After Bt corn was planted in 1996, the number of moths captured for analysis every night in vegetable fields dropped by 75 percent. The drop was a function of the percentage of Bt corn planted in the area and occurred even though moth populations usually go up with temperature. So the Bt corn more than counteracted the effect of the rising temperatures we've experienced over the quarter century covered by the study.
We already have roundup-resitant amaranth. I can't wait for BT resistant insects.
For the same reason birds can eat holly, deer can eat hellbore, and butterflies can eat milkweed,but you can't... you fucking imbecile.
The "pesticide" is a 100% natural component, harmless to all life except for a few specific bugs that can't digest it, and has absolutely no negative effects.
Luddites like you need to be hung from lampposts.
Just in case anyone thought that a bug-free world would be a wonderful thing.
What a massive load of fear mongering bullshit... The pesticides you're celebrating killed bees and other animals, seeped into drinking water, caused a worldwide spike in cancer, thyroid disease, and sterility. The GMO "pesticide" you're decrying is entirely natural and non-toxic to anything except for a few specific species of insects.
The whole "gluten free" diet craze and celiac disease may be more of an allergy to genetically modified wheat than gluten
In Europe we basically have no GMO corn/wheat. Nevertheless quite a few people have problems with gluten.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
explain how it is that corn that kills bugs isn't poisonous?
Oxygen is poisonous to many living things.
Back in the pre-GMO days, sprayed pesticides could be washed off. Sprayed pesticides are primarily concentrated on the OUTSIDE of vegetables. Husks and pod shells are typically discarded and protect our food from being contaminated by pesticides. It was more labor intensive for the farmers, sure, but the food was likely healthier for consumers.
Healthier except for the people ingesting the pesticides that had contaminated their drinking water?
Silly person. You’re using these pesky things called “facts” where as the GP’s fact-free opinion is clearly superior and more correct.
Perhaps it doesn't kill us right off the bat, but I suspect it still does some damage to our guts.
I don't. The Cry toxin produced by Bt crops works by binding to a receptor that mammals simply don't have.
I am very leery of eating popcorn nowadays because it seems to irritate my guts quite a bit.
Popcorn is a specific variety of corn. People don't seem to realize it, but field corn, sweet corn, and popcorn do not come from the same types of corn. A lot of field corn is GE, some sweet corn is GE, but there are no genetically engineered popcorn varieties on the market.
Reducing pesticide sprays SOUNDS like a good thing, until you realize that the GMO plants and produce are pesticides themselves, inside and out.
What do you think is happening when non-transgenic crops are conventionally bred to more pest resistant? Chemical defenses, otherwise known as pesticides, are a key method of defense for a kingdom of organisms that can't swat at the things eating them. All plants produce pesticides, every last one of them. Every species you eat brings you more and more pesticides. With genetic engineering, they're just doing one more. I don't see that as alarming in the slightest.
explain how it is that corn that kills bugs isn't poisonous?
Explain how chocolate which kills dogs isn't poisonous?
GMOs might have looked like a good idea in the 1970s.
Now everyone with a clue about agriculture knows we don't need them.
Right. Except for the teeny tiny fact that anyone who knows anything about agriculture actually says the exact opposite of that. Otherwise you're 100% correct!
But how about the insects that are beneficial for us humans one way or another? They may as well be impacted by this and that's concerning.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Well when you considering that "Flying Insects Have Been Disappearing Over the Past Few Decades, Study Shows" and that "Even Common Species Are Becoming Rare", this may not such good news after all.