Monsanto Decimates Their Credibility
September 10, 2013 |
Story at-a-glance
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Farmers plant Monsanto’s Bt corn because it contains a
built-in pesticide that kills certain insects when they eat
it, but now the corn rootworm is developing resistance
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Regions across the US Midwest are experiencing severe damage
from the resistant corn rootworm in Bt corn crops
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Reduced insecticide use has been touted as one of the
significant benefits of GM crops like Bt corn, but
insecticide use is now increasing as farmers attempt to save
their failing Bt crops from pests
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Not only is Bt corn producing resistant "super-pests,"
researchers have also found that the Bt toxin can be
transfered to humans and may wreak havoc on your health
By Dr. Mercola
Monsanto’s “Bt corn” is equipped with a gene from the soil
bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which produces Bt
toxin—a pesticide that breaks open the stomach of certain insects
and kills them.
This pesticide-producing genetically modified (GM) corn entered
the food supply in the late 1990s, but it wasn’t until 2003 that the
Bt corn that kills western corn rootworm was commercialized in
Illinois.
Corn rootworm is one of the most devastating pests to corn crops,
and it has historically been managed in conventional farming by crop
rotation and the use of insecticides applied to the soil.
With Bt corn, the use of such insecticides was supposed to be
curbed… but now, just 10 years later, the pests are already
developing resistance to the GM corn and other serious consequences
are also being uncovered.
Corn Rootworm Is Growing Increasingly Resistant to Bt Corn
Farmers in at least two Illinois counties have experienced severe
damage from corn rootworm this growing season, providing evidence
that the pests have grown resistant to the Bt corn.
Other areas in Illinois, as well as Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and
Iowa have also been struggling with rotation-resistant rootworm that
experts believe may soon develop resistance to the GM corn as well.
According to University of Illinois entomologist Michael Gray,
who visited the affected corn fields:1
“… producers across a wide swath of the state will face a
“formidable insect foe” capable of overcoming both crop rotation
and the protein.
… corn rootworm [was collected] not just in the damaged
corn but in adjacent soybean fields. 'The density of the western
corn rootworm adults in both crops … was additional evidence
that the Bt hybrids had failed to offer the necessary root
protection.'”
The pest resistance isn’t exactly a surprise. A scientific
advisory panel warned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that
the threat of insects developing resistance to Bt corn was high, but
Monsanto argued that the steps necessary to prevent such an
occurrence -- which would have entailed less of the corn being
planted -- were an unnecessary precaution, and the
EPA naively agreed.
Meanwhile, the corporate world has also been watching this
failure unfold and has taken advantage of what they see as a solid
financial opportunity. The Wall Street Journal reported:2
“American Vanguard bought a series of insecticide
companies and technologies during the past decade, betting that
insecticide demand would return as Bt corn started losing its
effectiveness. In the past couple of years, that wager has paid
off.
The Newport Beach, Calif., company reported that its
soil-insecticide revenue jumped 50% in 2012, and company
earnings climbed 70% as its stock price doubled. Its insecticide
sales rose 41% in the first quarter to $79 million, with gains
driven by corn insecticide.
FMC, based in Philadelphia, reported a 9% increase in
first-quarter sales in its agricultural business, which includes
insecticides and herbicides, following a 20% increase in the
fourth quarter. The gains are due in part to concerns about
resistance, company officials said.”
Despite What the Media and 'Experts' Tell You -- Insecticide Use Is
Now on the Rise
Reduced insecticide use has been touted as one of the significant
benefits of GM crops like Bt corn. But they NEVER include the Bt
toxin produced in every cell of GMO Bt crops as part of the total
human pesticide exposure. This is a criminal misrepresentation and
should be prosecuted at the highest level for this fraudulent
propaganda.
These unnaturally modified GMO crops have led to resistance, both
in weeds and pests, leaving farmers to struggle with an increasingly
difficult situation. Now, instead of the reduction in insecticide
use that has been promised, the use of insecticides is on the rise
as farmers try to find some solution for these resistant pests. Even
not factoring the GMO Bt toxin pesticide, use is still up and
according to the Wall Street Journal:3
“The government doesn't track insecticide use annually,
but U.S.-based American Vanguard and FMC Corp. and
Switzerland-based Syngenta, which account for more than
three-quarters of the market for soil pesticides, reported
significantly higher sales last year and in early 2013.
Syngenta, one of the world's largest pesticide makers,
reported that sales of its major soil insecticide for corn,
which is applied at planting time, more than doubled in 2012.
Chief Financial Officer John Ramsay attributed the growth to
'increased grower awareness' of rootworm resistance in the U.S.
Insecticide sales in the first quarter climbed 5% to $480
million.”
In response to the resistant pests, Monsanto is pushing its GM
corn (such as its Genuity SmartStax line) with multiple rootworm
traits, rather than just the one to which many are developing
resistance. But even the EPA has noted that rootworms are likely to
develop resistance to these other multiple traits as well.4
Now, according to surveys conducted by Gray, about 50 percent of
corn farmers are planning to ratchet up the ‘arms race’ by using a
soil insecticide along with the BT seed, calling it “cheap
insurance” against the possibility of resistance.5
EPA Experts Say ‘I Told You So’
A scientific advisory panel to the EPA urged that large refuges
of non-Bt corn be required in order to help prevent resistance. They
suggested that only half of a farmer’s corn acres be planted with Bt
corn. The EPA, as they often do, went against the advisory
panel’s advice and instead sided with Monsanto. They allowed Bt corn
to be planted on 80 percent of their corn acreage.
Now those experts are saying "I told you so" as, in 2011, the
first report of field-evolved resistance to Bt toxin by the western
corn rootworm was published.6
But still their advice seems to be falling on deaf ears… as NPR
reported:7
"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... [A] committee of experts at
the EPA is now recommending that biotech companies put into
action, for the first time, a 'remedial action plan' aimed at
stopping the spread of such resistant insects...
The EPA's experts also are suggesting that the agency
reconsider its approval of a new kind of rootworm-killing corn,
which Monsanto calls SmartStax. This new version of Bt
corn includes two different Bt genes that are supposed to kill
the rootworm in different ways. This should help prevent
resistance from emerging, and the EPA is allowing farmers to
plant it on up to 95 percent of their corn acres. But if one of
those genes is already compromised… such a high percentage of Bt
corn could rapidly produce insects that are resistant to the
second one, too."
Bt Crops Could be Monsanto’s Greatest Failure
This failure of Bt corn could be the most serious threat ever to
a genetically modified crop in the US, with billions of dollars at
stake, because not only is Bt corn producing resistant
"super-pests," researchers have also found that the Bt toxin can
indeed wreak havoc on human health.
Monsanto and the EPA swore that the GM corn would only harm
insects. The Bt toxin produced inside the plant would be completely
destroyed in the human digestive system and would not have any
impact at all on consumers, they claimed. But, once again,
Monsanto’s claims turned out to be false. In 2011, doctors at
Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec found Bt-toxin in the blood
of:8
- 93 percent of pregnant women tested
- 80 percent of umbilical blood in their babies
- 67 percent of non-pregnant women
The study authors speculated that the Bt toxin was likely
consumed in the normal diet of the Canadian middle class—which makes
sense when you consider that GM corn is present in the vast majority
of all processed foods and drinks in the form of high fructose corn
syrup, corn oil and other corn products. They also suggested that
the toxin may have come from eating meat from animals fed Bt corn,
which most livestock raised in confined animal feeding operations
(CAFOs) are.
These shocking results also raise the frightening possibility
that eating Bt corn might actually turn your intestinal flora into a
sort of "living pesticide factory"… essentially manufacturing Bt
toxin from within your digestive system on a continuing
basis through the transference of the Bt-producing gene to your gut
bacteria.
Is GM Bt Toxin in Your Body Right Now?
If you eat processed foods with any regularity, it’s highly
likely that, you do have Bt toxin in your body. Farmers have used
Bt-toxin from soil bacteria as a natural pesticide for many years,
and biotech companies have therefore claimed that Bt-toxin has a
"history of safe use in agriculture." But there's a major difference
between spraying it on plants, where it biodegrades in sunlight and
can be carefully washed off, and genetically altering the plant to
produce it internally.
Remember this: the GMO Bt toxin is not sprayed on the plant, the
plant is genetically altered to produce it in EVERY cell in the
plant. It is simply impossible to wash off. And if you eat any GMO
Bt crops, such as corn or cottonseed oil, you will most definitely
have this toxin enter your body. Remember, it was never designed to
be in your body and there have been no studies performed that
confirm its safety in this setting.
Bt crops have the Bt-toxin gene built-in, so the toxin
cannot be washed off. You simply cannot avoid consuming it.
Furthermore, the plant-produced version of the poison is
thousands of times more concentrated than the spray. If Bt
genes are indeed capable of transferring horizontally to the
bacteria colonizing the human digestive tract, scientists believe it
could reasonably result in:
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Autoimmune diseases
- Food allergies
- Childhood learning disorders
Already, there's plenty of other evidence showing that the Bt
toxin produced in GM corn (and cotton plants) is toxic to humans and
mammals and triggers immune system responses. For example,
in government-sponsored research in Italy, mice fed Monsanto's Bt
corn showed a wide range of immune responses, such as:9
- Elevated IgE and IgG antibodies, which are typically
associated with allergies and infections
- An increase in cytokines, which are associated with allergic
and inflammatory responses. The specific cytokines
(interleukins) that were found to be elevated are also higher in
humans who suffer from a wide range of disorders, from arthritis
and inflammatory bowel disease to MS and cancer
- Elevated T cells (gamma delta), which are increased in
people with asthma, and in children with food allergies,
juvenile arthritis and connective tissue diseases
Rats fed another of Monsanto's Bt corn varieties called MON 863,
also experienced an activation of their immune systems, showing
higher numbers of basophils, lymphocytes and white blood cells.10
These can indicate possible allergies, infections, toxins, and
various disease states including cancer. There were also signs of
liver and kidney toxicity.
Bt Corn Is Only One of Monsanto’s Dastardly Creations…
When it comes to products with the potential to devastate the
planet, Monsanto takes the cake. This company has single-handedly
created some of the most destructive products known to man,
including polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs, and dioxin- and
2,4-D-containing Agent Orange. Furthermore, in addition to Bt corn,
they’ve also created Roundup Ready corn and soy, which are
engineered to withstand contamination with otherwise lethal doses of
Monsanto's herbicide Roundup.
Massive acreage of soybeans, cotton, and corn grown in the US
contain the GM Roundup Ready gene -- and all of these crops receive
numerous applications of Roundup each and every year. It's now
estimated that more than 130 types of weeds spanning 40 US states
are now herbicide-resistant, and, like the resistant pests,
the
superweeds are showing no signs of stopping.
A 2012 nutritional analysis of GM versus non-GM corn shows
shocking differences in nutritional content. Non-GM corn
contains 437 times more calcium, 56 times more magnesium, and 7
times more manganese than GM corn, raising alarming red flags that
GM food is not substantially equivalent to non-GM food, as
we have been led to believe. It’s important to realize that GM foods
have never been proven safe for human consumption over a
lifetime, let alone over generations -- and if we don't take action
soon, the entire planet could soon become contaminated with these
toxic seeds, leading to the complete destruction of the natural food
supply.
Join Us in Your Right to Know by Getting GMOs Labeled!
While California Prop. 37 failed to pass last November by a very
narrow margin, the fight for GMO labeling is far from over. In the
past few weeks, Connecticut and Maine have passed GMO-labeling
bills, and 20 other states have pending legislation to label
genetically engineered foods. So, now is the time to put the pedal
to the metal and get labeling across the country—something 64 other
countries already have.
I hope you will join us in this effort.
The field-of-play has now moved to the state of Washington, where
the people's initiative 522, "The People's Right to Know Genetically
Engineered Food Act," will require food sold in retail outlets to be
labeled if it contains genetically engineered ingredients.
Please help us win this key GMO labeling battle and continue to
build momentum for GMO labeling in other states by
making a donation to the Organic
Consumers Association (OCA).
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/10/monsanto-bt-corn.aspx
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