Related Stories
Limits Sought on GMO Corn as Pest Resistance Grows
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Wall Street Journal
Posted: September 6th, 2015
http://www.wsj.com/articles/limits-sought-on-gmo-corn-as-pes...
U.S. regulators for the first time are proposing limits on the planting of some genetically engineered corn to combat ... a bug that ranks among the most expensive crop threats to U.S. corn farmers. The plan is aimed at widely grown corn varieties sold by Monsanto, the first to sell rootworm-resistant corn, and rival seed makers including DuPont and Dow Chemical. Such corn seeds have been genetically modified to secrete proteins that are toxic to destructive insects. The [Environmental Protection Agency's] proposal would require seed companies to limit some Midwestern farmers practice of sowing fields with corn year after year in areas harboring resistant rootworms. The agency is taking a tougher stance because the industrys efforts havent done enough. Genetically modified corn ... was planted on an estimated 80% of U.S. cornfields last year, up from 19% in 2000. Midwestern farmers embrace of pest-resistant corn since the first varieties launch in 1996 has diminished its power. Repeated exposure to the corns bug-killing proteins means that the small number of rootworms that are able to consume the BT toxin and live can reproduce by the thousands and spread across fields that are used to grow corn year after year. Over large areas, the [modified] corn plants will lose effectiveness, and growers will be forced to rely much more on insecticides, said [University of Arizona entomology professor] Bruce Tabashnik. Thats bad for their bottom line, and its bad for the environment.
Note: The full article can be found on this webpage. In order to engineer pest-resistant corn, chemical companies must saturate seedling fields with pesticides. Birth defects and other illnesses increase sharply around those fields. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing GMO news articles from reliable major media sources.
Related Stories
Latest News
Key News Articles from Years Past
