Excerpt: "Monsanto Co. and other seedmakers reported a threefold increase last year in US farmers caught violating rules intended to stop insects from developing resistance to genetically modified corn."
Monsanto blames farmers for the emergence of 'superbugs' like the Bt-resistant corn rootworm. (photo: Ian Marsman/flickr)
Monsanto Accuses US Farmers of 'Evading EPA Rules'
18 Febrary 12
Makers of genetically modified seeds say more farmers evading EPA rules
onsanto Co. and other seedmakers reported a threefold increase last year in U.S. farmers caught violating rules intended to stop insects from developing resistance to genetically modified corn.
The rules affect farmers planting seeds modified to produce a toxin derived from Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, a natural insecticide. The Environmental Protection Agency requires those growers to also plant an adjacent area - a so-called refuge - of non-Bt corn so that bugs feed on both types of corn and don't become immune to the toxin.
About 41 percent of 3,053 farmers inspected in 2011 failed to fully comply with the refuge requirement, according to data that Monsanto provided last week in an e-mail.
Seed companies are concerned that bugs' resistance to modified crops may be increasing. In July, Iowa State University found that some rootworms have evolved resistance to the Bt gene engineered into Monsanto corn. Entomologists in Illinois and other Midwestern states are studying possible resistance in fields where the insects devour roots of Monsanto's Bt corn.
Seed companies used sales data to identify farmers who may not have purchased enough seed for a refuge, said Nick Storer, global science policy leader for Dow Chemical Co., another maker of modified seeds.
"The whole purpose of doing that was to try to increase the frequency with which we identify non-compliant growers," Storer said in an interview.
Farmers who violate the requirements are now revisited at least twice over five years, Joanne Carden of Monsanto said in an interview. Farmers who fail the follow-up inspection lose access to the technology, she said.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Live Occupy Wall Street Tweets
 19 May 2012
|
 19 May 2012
|
 20 May 2012
|
 19 May 2012
|
 19 May 2012
|
 20 May 2012
|
 21 May 2012
|
 21 May 2012
|
 21 May 2012
|
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
We need to change present money culture - maximizing profit creates feudalism and destroys environment.
We have TWELVE more days to submit public comments on Dow's corn:
Go To:
http://foodtruthfreedom.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/12-days-to-stop-dows-2-4-d-corn/
These three crops dominate U.S. agriculture, covering over 100 million acres of mono-cropped countryside, driving the pesticide market. If they get their foot in the door with corn, there is little chance that soy and cotton will be a problem for approval.
If all of a crop is sprayed or bred for resistance to a pest or disease, tremendous selection pressure is applied to that pest. Any mutation which gives tolerance to that pesticide/or resistance gene is able to survive with out compensation from non resistant organisms. Any method which delays the development of such resistances is highly useful.
The scenario of refuges works best where the offspring of a resistant pest is mostly susceptible to that treatment and there is some significant growth 'penalty' due to that mutation.
To be successful, most users of the the pesticide / gene need to cooperate.
It is good husbandry not to spread material containing seeds/pests/insects/diseases from farm to farm, distinct to district, country to country. This also applies to seed from common weeds from weeds which has developed resistance to herbicides.
Nature bats last.
What happened to seed corn companies like Pioneer and De Kalb? Now our seed corn companies are chemical companies. Who's next, Union Carbide?
labeling requirements, no one will know when the next generation is released, nor will anyone know what or who to blame if something goes wrong, less what to do about it in time to save people.
I just finished reading about how rice, planted in soils with high arsenic content can cause dementia, diabetes, slow healing wounds and cell necrosis. Do you know where your rice comes from?
Yet the clamor for deregulation goes on!
And for what it's worth, GM is one of the most effective ways of working WITH nature that exists. It allows plants and animals to deal with problems like saline soils, periodic temperature and water stress, pests, soil fertility problems, plant digestibility and other stressors in a way that doesn't require massive amounts of input. That people like Monsanto have corrupted the process to fit their own business model is not a reflection on the technique itself.
For those who beat the drum for pure organic agriculture with no fertilizer, pesticides, GM, etc., let me remind you that organic agriculture was the primary form of agriculture prior to the Green Revolution and it was because of the failure of organic agriculture to produce quantities sufficient to prevent famine that led to the need for the Green Revolution in the first place.
Food production is not a matter of new technology (and creating potentially harmful 'food' products but of crop rotation, and the distribution of food to people who are hungry. The so-called 'shortage' is a manufactured crisis for the purpose of corporatizing food. Study Monsanto's history. It'll scare the hell out of you.
Monsanto owns EPA ...
It's the focus on short term results to the exclusion of long term results that has screwed up our economy, but as your post illustrates, Americans just don't seem to be able to think beyond the next minute.
If there is a large population of susceptible bugs, as would be the case with half (actually closer to 20%) the crops being nonBt, the few resistant bugs would only find susceptible bugs to mate with. Thus any of their offspring may be on average slightly resistant, but would have only susceptible mates available, further diluting resistance. When you have half a dozen resistant bugs mating in a pool of thousands of susceptible bugs, it takes a long time for selection to make any difference.
This is basic evolution and has been shown to be effective time and time again when used against pests ranging from ticks to fleas to mosquitoes to internal parasites of livestock.
What would these chemical companies use for a dodge if the EPA was eliminated like Ron Paul and others want to do?
Ethanol from corn to burn in cars and millions are hungry?
Farms in the Midwest are being bought by Saudis for $$profit$$.
This is much more urgent to USA security than trillions spent on wars!
Only a fool would think that they can separate themselves from the general population. But of course "There be fools aplenty".
I would note that most of our major pests/weeds have been co evolving with agriculture since we started agriculture. To develop resistance to novel chemicals or to cultivation systems etc is nothing new. Its just the long term battle of man versus opportunistic nature.
Do not forget that plants use chemicals to defend them selves from grazing animals large and small, pests, diseases, and other plants. Also they do not need to get their products approved first so some are quite toxic to us.
The curse imposed on man when man was ejected from Eden, summarizers the lot of humans who have taken up agriculture.
http://lookingglass.blog.co.uk/2012/02/17/the-face-of-evil-12807395/#c17362942
RSS feed for comments to this post.