Insects Find Crack In Biotech Corn's Armor
December 5, 2011, NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...ch-corns-armor

Hidden in the soil of Illinois and Iowa, a new generation of insect larvae appears to be munching happily on the roots of genetically engineered corn, according to scientists. It's bad news for corn farmers, who paid extra money for this line of corn, counting on the power of its inserted genes to kill those pests. It's also bad news for the biotech company Monsanto, which inserted the larvae-killing gene in the first place. In fact, the gene's apparent failure ... may be the most serious threat to a genetically modified crop in the U.S. since farmers first started growing them 15 years ago. The economic impact could be "huge," says the University of Arizona's Bruce Tabashnik, one of the country's top experts on the adaptation of insects to genetically engineered crops. Billions of dollars are at stake. The scientists who called for caution now are saying "I told you so," because there are signs that a new strain of resistant rootworms is emerging. In eastern Iowa, northwestern Illinois, and parts of Minnesota and Nebraska, rows of Bt corn have toppled over, their roots eaten by rootworms. Entomologist Aaron Gassmann at Iowa State University, who authored the [new] paper, collected insects from some of these fields and found many with a greater-than-expected ability to tolerate Bt. The EPA is now recommending that ... farmers in areas where such damage has been observed to stop planting this kind of Bt corn altogether. Instead, those farmers will have to use other methods, such as spraying chemical insecticides, to control the rootworm.

On 2013-09-24 01:03:59 +0000, ImStillMags said:

> Insects Find Crack In Biotech Corn's Armor
> December 5, 2011, NPR
> http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...ch-corns-armor
>
>
> Hidden in the soil of Illinois and Iowa, a new generation of insect
> larvae appears to be munching happily on the roots of genetically
> engineered corn, according to scientists. It's bad news for corn
> farmers, who paid extra money for this line of corn, counting on the
> power of its inserted genes to kill those pests. It's also bad news for
> the biotech company Monsanto, which inserted the larvae-killing gene in
> the first place. In fact, the gene's apparent failure ... may be the
> most serious threat to a genetically modified crop in the U.S. since
> farmers first started growing them 15 years ago. The economic impact
> could be "huge," says the University of Arizona's Bruce Tabashnik, one
> of the country's top experts on the adaptation of insects to
> genetically engineered crops. Billions of dollars are at stake. The
> scientists who called for caution now are saying "I told you so,"
> because there are signs that a new strain of resistant rootworms is
> emerging. In eastern Iowa, northwestern Illinois, and parts of
> Minnesota and Nebraska, rows of Bt corn have toppled over, their roots
> eaten by rootworms. Entomologist Aaron Gassmann at Iowa State
> University, who authored the [new] paper, collected insects from some
> of these fields and found many with a greater-than-expected ability to
> tolerate Bt. The EPA is now recommending that ... farmers in areas
> where such damage has been observed to stop planting this kind of Bt
> corn altogether. Instead, those farmers will have to use other methods,
> such as spraying chemical insecticides, to control the rootworm.

O god that makes me happy!

Monsanto's ass is not getting bitten here.


"ImStillMags" > wrote in message
...
Insects Find Crack In Biotech Corn's Armor
December 5, 2011, NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...ch-corns-armor

Hidden in the soil of Illinois and Iowa, a new generation of insect larvae
appears to be munching happily on the roots of genetically engineered corn,
according to scientists. It's bad news for corn farmers, who paid extra
money for this line of corn, counting on the power of its inserted genes to
kill those pests. It's also bad news for the biotech company Monsanto, which
inserted the larvae-killing gene in the first place. In fact, the gene's
apparent failure ... may be the most serious threat to a genetically
modified crop in the U.S. since farmers first started growing them 15 years
ago. The economic impact could be "huge," says the University of Arizona's
Bruce Tabashnik, one of the country's top experts on the adaptation of
insects to genetically engineered crops. Billions of dollars are at stake.
The scientists who called for caution now are saying "I told you so,"
because there are signs that a new strain of resistant rootworms is
emerging. In eastern Iowa, northwestern Illinois, and parts of Minnesota and
Nebraska, rows of Bt corn have toppled over, their roots eaten by rootworms.
Entomologist Aaron Gassmann at Iowa State University, who authored the [new]
paper, collected insects from some of these fields and found many with a
greater-than-expected ability to tolerate Bt. The EPA is now recommending
that ... farmers in areas where such damage has been observed to stop
planting this kind of Bt corn altogether. Instead, those farmers will have
to use other methods, such as spraying chemical insecticides, to control the
rootworm.

gtr wrote:
>
> O god that makes me happy!

Potential crop failure, farmers loosing their income and people starving
makes you happy? What a f'n douch.

On 2013-09-24, Paul M. Cook > wrote:
> Monsanto's ass is not getting bitten here.

Agree.

No geneticist is so stupid as to disregard the fact that the rapid
evolution of insects would soon outstrip GMO'd plant's lethality,
eventually. I believe Monstersanto's primary goal has always been to
patent and outright own the seeds used for GM foods. In that, they've
succeeded far too well.

nb

On 2013-09-24 12:04:52 +0000, Pete C. said:

> gtr wrote:
>>
>> O god that makes me happy!
>
> Potential crop failure, farmers loosing their income and people starving
> makes you happy? What a f'n douch.

Better than being a douche I suppose. Don't like the topic: Change it
to the participants.

People starving because of a diminished American corn crop? Could you
add a teensy bit more hyperbole?

I'm looking forward to Monsanto's failure to control world crop growth
with their Frankenstienian products (which you may read as "Hating
America"). Guts tells me that farmers will move to another seed next
year to Monsanto's disadvantage (aka "Hating America").

And yes, I do hate to see the remaining 200 family farmers
suffer--again--as well as the 82% that is agribusiness, but pesticides
will simply have to be added to their many other other liabilities and
then "leveled out" by federal "supports".

On 2013-09-24 06:05:29 +0000, Paul M. Cook said:

> Monsanto's ass is not getting bitten here.

No, GMO corn seed is just one tiny part of their giant ass.

"gtr" > wrote in message news:2013092411295844154-xxx@yyyzzz...
> On 2013-09-24 06:05:29 +0000, Paul M. Cook said:
>
>> Monsanto's ass is not getting bitten here.
>
> No, GMO corn seed is just one tiny part of their giant ass.

We will suffer. Not them.

On Tue, 24 Sep 2013 11:29:02 -0700, gtr > wrote:

> I'm looking forward to Monsanto's failure to control world crop growth
> with their Frankenstienian products

Me too.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On 2013-09-24 18:58:05 +0000, Paul M. Cook said:

> "gtr" > wrote in message news:2013092411295844154-xxx@yyyzzz...
>> On 2013-09-24 06:05:29 +0000, Paul M. Cook said:
>>
>>> Monsanto's ass is not getting bitten here.
>>
>> No, GMO corn seed is just one tiny part of their giant ass.
>
> We will suffer. Not them.

In that case let's let them run congress. Oh, wait a minute...

On 9/23/2013 9:03 PM, ImStillMags wrote:

> Insects Find Crack In Biotech Corn's Armor December 5, 2011, NPR
> http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...ch-corns-armor

Life will always find a way. Insects seem to evolve to fit their
situation faster than any other creature. No cite on that, just an
observation.

--
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