AP: GMO Corn is Creating Super Worms

AP: ‘Mounting Evidence’ of Bug-Resistant Corn Seen by EPA
(bloomberg.com)

The EPA is finding mounting evidence that Monsanto's GMO-corn strains, designed to produce the pesticide Bt, are producing "superweeds" and "superworms" that have developed immunity to the pesticide.

“There is mounting evidence raising concerns that insect resistance is developing in parts of the corn belt,” the EPA said Aug. 31 in an e-mail.

Root worms exposed to the GMO-corn's Bt toxin have become immune to it, breeding colonies of superworms that will spread throughout the Midwest.

“EPA is concerned about the reported resistance to Cry3bB1 in corn rootworm populations in some parts of the country, as are others in the agricultural community,” the agency said.

‘Superweeds’ Problem

Monsanto’s worst resistance problem is with crops engineered to tolerate its Roundup herbicide. “Superweeds” that Roundup no longer kills have invaded as many as 20 million acres (8.1 million hectares) of corn and soybeans, according to a Dow study. As many as 28 million acres of cotton, soybean and corn may host Roundup-resistant weeds by 2015, according to Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta.

The EPA requires farmers of Bt corn to plant a so-called refuge, an area of non-modified corn that grows near the modified crop. The agency reasons that bugs not exposed to the toxin will then mate with any resistant rootworms, creating a new generation of insects that is once again susceptible to the insecticide.

Well good luck with that strategy - you know you can't mess with Mother Nature like this and have it all go as planned.


Some background information on Bt toxins;

Bt: Miracle Organic Pesticide or Potential Environmental Disaster?

Remember, Monsanto has now released a new sweet corn variety containing the Bt pesticide for sale in groceries, marketed as fresh produce for human consumption. Monsanto has also fought and won against any labeling laws that would have forced them to disclose GMO crops, so consumers will not know whether they are buying is GMO or not.

• Increasingly, the types of Bt being used are rare strains that are performance-enhanced or sometimes genetically engineered. The use of Bt pesticides has spread from farms and occasional homeowner use to the spraying of millions of acres every year around the world, often over large tracts of forest land or areas with large urban populations.
  
  
• The Bt strains being used are applied at rates up to one billion times the natural levels. Often, they wipe out entire families of insects in the sprayed areas. For instance, Btk, a strain used to control moth pests such as tussock and gypsy moth, kills all insects in the Lepidoptera family (moths and butterflies). Soil biota is also affected – there is evidence to show that nematodes and predator insects (that would naturally control the pest population) are depressed also.
  
  
• Despite Bt’s purported safety for humans, no long term testing has ever been done to assure its safety. Why should you worry?
  
  
  • Bt is extremely similar (so much so it is difficult to distinguish without sophisticated testing) to two other bacteria, B. cereus, which causes food poisoning, and B. anthracis, which causes anthrax.
    
    
  • Bt secretes many of the same toxins B. cereus does when it is growing. There is mounting evidence that spores germinate in humans and can live for extended periods of time in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract. The effect of these low level infections is unknown, but there have been isolated reports of disease caused by Bt. One of the reasons Bt may not be seen as a common cause of sickness is that it is very hard to test for its presence – many cases diagnosed as B. cereus gastroenteritis (a fairly common form of food poisoning) may in fact be caused by Bt.
    
    
  • People with sensitive immune systems could be affected in ways we do not yet know, but immune responses are seen when Bt infections establish in humans.
    
    
  • DDT was used for thirty years and was claimed to be extremely safe for humans. The same sort of testing done to arrive at that conclusion has been done with Bt.
  
  
• Unfortunately, when Bt pesticides are formulated, a number of “inert” ingredients are added as preservatives, enhancers, and flow and wetting agents. These inerts are never revealed by manufacturers or tested for safety, and some may be toxic. For instance, Foray 48B, a common moth insecticide, probably contains the chemical BIT (1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one) that was recently prohibited for environmental releases in the EU.

In the foolish attempt to tame nature, man will unleash biotoxins that have never been tested on humans, who's long range affects in the natural environment can scarcely be imagined. 'Superweeds' and 'superworms' will only be the tip of the iceberg.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I read this article, today.

ANY bioengineering of our food supply's, is going to create harmful side affects to anything it touches. Just like antibiotics, resistance, will happen. Its a shame humans have to play God, for a profit.


S&F

Hopefully it then turns the super worms off
Good crops just like vegetables turn off fat people...sadly this will not be the case...

THEYRE ####ING EVERYTHING UP

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


The arrogance of man in all its splendor...I'm all for research and experimentation and scientific progress but it needs to be done in controlled environments not in open air crops that can infest the landscape like a deadly virus if it so wishes...that it just arrogant and careless.

that's awesome...now I am going to buy me one of those cans of superworms to go along side my GMO corn

Plants, insects and bacteria have been fighting a evolutionally War for millions of years.
And along comes man and think they can play the game and win.
Man does Not stand a chance.
They will just end up giving the enemy a big advantage.
And humans will just get killed off as a small foot note in a big war.
Plants started this war Long before the dinosaurs walk’t the earth.

That is a problem for sure

(Star Wars for those who dont know)

Edit:

Guess i better add some more content and actually contribute. I would say tampering with the DNA of living organisms is going to occur at some point or the other. Food was the first logical choice as its effects can mitigated and controlled somewhat.

Human gene modification is where the real scary stuff is going to happen, regardless of how many controls we have in place.

"Nature always finds a way" Jurassic Park.

I think this will just be the tip of the iceberg as far as what we will see given time. Right now it's worms and weeds, later it's people dropping dead or what have you.

Really it's not that much different than the psychiatric medicines given to people, some of which we have NO IDEA what the long term effects will be. And that's just one example.

You see those ads on TV about if you or someone you know took such and such drug and then developed a mile long list of diseases or someone you know DIED? Yes well maybe one day we will see adverts on GMO.... Or more likely we won't and all we will see is DENIAL.

Giant Earthworm Discovered

The earthworm was found in the gutter of a residential home Thursday in Binchuan County of China’s Yunnan Province, CNN reported. Resident Li Zhiwei was putting out some Chinese dates in his backyard to dry when he noticed the giant earthworm slinking along in the gutter. A worker in the Forestry Bureau of Binchuan Count, Zhiwei knew immediately that there was something unusual about the worm. “It looked like a snake, I looked carefully and found it was actually a huge earthworm,” Li said.

reply to post by meticulous


Almost like something from Prometheus...

Monsanto may be damned to hell and burn in the scorching fire and their own chemicals for eternity, so they never walk on the face of earth again! I hate those guys!

Woops...Is this a hate speech?

Originally posted by WhiteHat
Monsanto may be damned to hell and burn in the scorching fire and their own chemicals for eternity, so they never walk on the face of earth again!

I hate those guys!

Woops...Is this a hate speech?

Try using the word loath instead of hate. Then you can innocently stand there and say that you didn't say that you "hated" anyone.

I agree with you though. They have screwed up big time. I do wonder if it was just human arrogance and profits on their side or if there is more too it. Don't they also own or control the doomsday seed vault in the arctic? You can connect all sorts of dots, the problem is, are we connecting the right dots.

This is why Monsanto's own employees demanded that GMO's be removed from the cafeteria, in which they are now only served fresh, organic food. Oh the irony!

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


They had a prototype for these "super worms" many years ago. Meet earth worm jim

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


not to sound sarcastic, but i gotta wonder. do super worms catch super fish?

Originally posted by ozmaoz47
reply to post by Blackmarketeer

 

not to sound sarcastic, but i gotta wonder. do super worms catch super fish?

You would have to put a super worm on the end of a fishing hook to catch a super fish

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Honestly, how long are the GMO sympathizers going to keep this up before they admit that there is hardly enough research to be growing GMO crops for human consumption.

It's destroying our lands, creating toxins and god knows what else within our own bodies.

~Tenth

reply to post by MDDoxs


This brings all the Tremors movies to mind, with Kevin Bacon. If you haven't watched that one, it would be an eye opener if the toxins create those monsters!