Incidence of GMO corn, cotton and soy updated

As of July 2018 the average incidence of food crops grown in the US.

Corn:
All GE varieties: 92%

• Herbicide tolerant only: 10%
• Produces Bt (insect resistant): 2%
• Stacked gene: 80%

Soy:
All GE varieties: 94%

• Herbicide tolerant only: 94%

Source: USDA.gov.

Monsanto used army of shills to stop negative comments?

At least one news site is reporting that Monsanto used an army of shills to crack down on people who posted negative things about Monsanto or its products.

The case challenges Monsanto’s corrupt relationship with members of the Environmental Protection Agency and their attempts to manipulate scientific publications and crack down on online dissent. Monsanto’s ‘Let Nothing Go’ campaign allegedly hired online ‘shills’ to quickly respond to social media chatter about the carcinogenic properties of their ‘RoundUp’ product.  

1. Not much surprise if Monsanto colluded with EPA. EPA fired a scientist who started talking about the dangers of toxic sludge being put on farms all over America.  
2. The EPA claims Bt is safe for people when research shows otherwise (studies at link). 
3. EPA toxicity levels for neonics in water are far too lax.
4. Monsanto even claimed PCBs were safe right up to the last lawsuit. 
5. And Monsanto exec admits they faked study data.

Read more here.

Monarch caterpillars killied by Bt pollen

Monarch caterpillars fed milkweed leaves dusted with pollen from Bt crops died at a much higher rate.

1. Pollen blows everywhere up to 60 yards away from a GMO crop. It cannot be contained or controlled, thus it affects many more species and areas than companies claim it does.
2. We already know that Monsanto pays off scientists and schills to get the results they want. And Marc Fellous, former chairman of France's Biomolecular Engineering Commission (BEC) has been indicted for forging a scientist's signature without his consent. 
3. Both the FDA and EPA have been caught hiding information and lying to the public. See the rest of this blog for news stories, there are too many to reprint here. 

More links to studies about Bt and insects

1. Iowa study shows Bt pollen harmful to the monarch butterfly.
2. Cornell study. 1999.
3. Pleasants, J, KS Oberhauser. 2012. Milkweed loss in agricultural fields because of herbicide use: Effect on the monarch butterfly population. Insect Conservation and Diversity. DOI:10.1111/j.1752-4598.2012.00196.x
4. Oberhauser, K.S. and E.R.L. Rivers. 2003. Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) larvae & Bt corn pollen: A review of ecological risk assessment for a non-target species. AgBiotechNet. 5:1-7.
5. Sears, M. K., R. L. Hellmich, D. E. Stanley-Horn, K. S. Oberhauser, J. M. Pleasants, H. R. Mattila, B. D. Siegfriedi, G. P. Dively. 2001. Impact of Bt corn pollen on monarch butterfly populations: A risk assessment. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 98 (21): 11937-11942.

The Bt toxin affects many land invertebrate species, but also many aquatic vertebrates. I bred daphnia and ostracods for several years and when I put Bt in one barrel all invertebrates died. Luckily I was able to "reseed" the barrel the following year with no ill effects, but that was after a freezing Michigan winter. Not all environments that contain Bt will be safe after a mild winter.

But of course, industry, who wants to make a lot of money, claims Bt pollen is safe for insects. Just like  2,4-d (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, a herbicide), acetamiprid, Agent Orange, asbestos, aspartame, cigarettes, DDT, DES, diazinon, epoxiconazole, flame retardant in the US, fluroxypyr, fracking, glyphosate, imidacloprid, isoproturon, lead paint, malathion, mercury fillings, microbeads, organophosphates, parathion, PCBs, pirimicarb, prochloraz, tebuconazole, tetrachlorvinphos, thalidomide, Vioxx was safe. 

You can even do your own trial study to test this.

1. Get an aquarium. 
2. Learn how to care for daphnia or ostracods. They eat mainly free-floating bacteria or algae. 
3. Buy daphnia online and put into a cycled fish tank. 
4. Care for them for 3-4 weeks to get them stabilized. 
5. Add fresh Bt blocks to the aquarium, sold in local stores. 
6. Watch the population die. 

You can also do this experiment with cloning crayfish since they are a hearty species.


Sources

1. Cornell Study. 1999. Another link.
2. Laura C. Hansen Jesse, John J. Obrycki. 2000. Field deposition of Bt transgenic corn pollen: lethal effects on the monarch butterfly. Oecologia, DOI 10.1007/s004420000502, published online: 19 August 2000. Link to PDF full study.

Which GMO crops are grown in the US?

As of 2015, over 90% of corn, soybean and cotton crops grown in the US are GMO crops. Corn and soybean make it into the food supply, and there is no consensus among scientists regarding the safety of foods that are Roundup Ready or that contain the Bt Crytoxin.

GMO crops in the US below through 2012.

GMO crops 2000-2012. From MotherJones.com

Are crops that produce the Bt protein dangerous for people?

Bt crops are genetically modified to create a crystal protein from the Baccillus thurigensis bacterium, which, when ingested by insects feeding on the crops, kills the insect pests. The Bt toxin, one common one is called CRY1A, pokes microholes in the gut of the insect, and the insect dies. Bt spores do not spread to other plants or insects on their own and Bt powder spread on plants is easily washed off and becomes ineffective.

Created in 1995, potatoes which create Bt crystal proteins were approved for crops in the US. In 1996 corn was approved for growth in the US. By 2014, 7 million farmers were using Bt cotton in India.

Bt powder is a preferred method of insect control for backyard farmers as it can be washed off easily before the food is eaten, but when the cry protein is in the plant itself, it cannot be washed off, and is consumed by people.

Bt action is very specific. Different strains of Bt are specific to different receptors in insect gut wall. Bt toxicity depends on recognizing receptors, damage to the gut by the toxin occurs upon binding to a receptor. Each insect species possesses different types of receptors that will match only certain toxin proteins, like a lock to a key. It is because of this that farmers have to be careful to match the target pest species with a particular Bt toxin protein which is specific for that insect. This also helps the beneficial insects because they will usually not be harmed by that particular strain of Bt.

The EPA has found Bt to be safe yet we already know the track record of the EPA: it's in the pocket of big biotech and conveniently ignores facts that will affect biotech profits. In the 1990s the EPA was also the agency which declared meltwater ditches next to roads on private property a "protected watershed" (even though the water was temporary) and even quarantined property from homeowners and prevented from doing something as simple as planting flowers too close to the "watershed". (When a property was declared a "watershed" it became protected. So even though the owner paid money for the property, they were unable to develop it for commercial or residential purposes.) Past performance is the best indicator of future performance. 

Bt pellets work well in controlling mosquito larva in ponds, but it appears to kill all other invertebrates, in my experience. The good part is the Bt does not survive the winter in my pond. (The next spring I added back ostracods and daphnia and they survived.)

In 2011 a study found that Bt toxins (cry proteins) killed fetal cells inside human mothers.

In 2013, scientists found the Bt cry toxin (aka cry protein) CRY1AB was affecting blood cells in mice. Their conclusion was that cry proteins cause some problems in vertebrates and the toxic effects increase with long-term exposure.

In the cast of GMO crops that produce the Bt toxin, it may be better to avoid them altogether. Better safe than sorry. See also "The Failure of the Scientific Establishment" which lists more items mainstream science claimed was safe.

Links

1. Arisa, Aziz and Samuel Leblancc (University of Sherbrooke). Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada. Reproductive Toxicology. May 2011. Link to Elsevier abstract.
2. Bt info from UCSD.
3. EPA Biopesticide fact sheet. 
4. Mezzomo BP, Miranda-Vilela AL, Freire IdS, Barbosa LCP, Portilho FA, et al. (2013). Hematotoxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis as Spore-crystal Strains Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac or Cry2Aa in Swiss Albino Mice. J Hematol Thromb Dis. 1: 104. doi:10.4172/jhtd.1000104. Link to PDF. 
5. Wikipedia.