{"id":2230,"date":"2012-03-10T12:22:37","date_gmt":"2012-03-10T18:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realfoodhouston.com\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2012-03-10T12:22:37","modified_gmt":"2012-03-10T18:22:37","slug":"experts-warn-the-epa-about-rootworm-resistance-to-monsanto-ge-corn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/2012\/03\/10\/experts-warn-the-epa-about-rootworm-resistance-to-monsanto-ge-corn\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts warn the EPA about rootworm resistance to Monsanto GE corn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Farmer<\/a>A group of 22 academic experts on corn pests have sent a letter, dated March 5, to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warning that continued use of more pesticides on Monsanto’s genetically engineered corn is causing increasing resistance in the targeted rootworm.\u00a0 Joseph Spencer, a corn entomologist with the University of Illinois, and Patrick Porter from\u00a0Texas A&M University, are among the\u00a0scientists\u00a0who drafted the letter.\u00a0 “[T]he group’s credentials are impressive.\u00a0 It includes most of the non-corporate researchers who are currently trying to evaluate the extent and consequences of corn rootworm resistance.<\/p>\n

The biotech corn, which contains a “protein referred to as ‘Cry3Bb1,” was genetically engineered by Monsanto\u00a0to be toxic to the corn rootworm and, therefore, supposedly to reduce the amount of pesticide needed to control the pest.\u00a0 However, evidence is growing that the\u00a0toxic ingredient in the GE corn is becoming less effective causing rootworm damage and potential crop loss.\u00a0 The problem of resistance to the GE corn has been found in several\u00a0states, including parts of\u00a0Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.<\/p>\n

Monsanto’s response to the letter asserts that the excessive rootworm damage was “isolated to\u00a0less than 0.2 percent of the acres planted with Monsanto rootworm-traited corn hybrids.”\u00a0 Monsanto is also promoting another potential solution–a GE corn that “combines two different anti-rootworm genes” into a “pyramid” of genes.\u00a0 The EPA is allowing this new type of corn, called “SmartStax,” to be planted on up to 95 percent of corn acres because it “should dramatically reduce the chances of insects developing resistance.”\u00a0 Data has shown that the new corn is more effective than the single gene corn, but not nearly as effective as had been hoped.\u00a0 “In addition, ‘SmartStax’ corn is being planted in areas where some insects may already be resistant to one of the genes, so it’s not a true pyramid.”<\/p>\n

The researchers’ letter said that continuing to use the GE corn only increases development of rootworm resistance. The GE corn is being used even in areas where corn rootworm resistance is not needed, partly because of the difficulty of finding corn seed that has not been genetically engineered.\u00a0 It seems that the use of GE corn even where not needed\u00a0may\u00a0increase resistance similar to the way\u00a0antibiotic resistant bacteria have developed from\u00a0overprescribing even when not effective and\u00a0also\u00a0from overuse\u00a0in\u00a0factory farming.<\/p>\n

The economic cost of the potential spread of “corn rootworm resistance to genetically engineered crops\u00a0could be enormous.”\u00a0 Although rotating crops\u00a0could help control rootworms, “that’s\u00a0simply not an option for many farmers; they have to plant the most profitable crop–corn–in order to compete economically.”<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

Insect Experts Issue ‘Urgent’ Warning On Using Biotech Seeds<\/a>
\nU.S. scientists warn EPA on Monsanto corn rootworm<\/a><\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/p>\n

GMO Crops Fail Again–This Time Its Bt Corn<\/a>
\nGlyphosate is already in our food, air, and water: What is it and why should we care?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of 22 academic experts on corn pests have sent a letter, dated March 5, to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warning that continued use of more pesticides on Monsanto’s genetically engineered corn is causing increasing resistance in the …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[59],"tags":[94,405,31],"class_list":["post-2230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmos","tag-genetically-engineered","tag-gmos","tag-sustainable-farming"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p70SEj-zY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2239,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions\/2239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}