Saturday, June 16, 2012

Genetically Modified Crops Bring Predators!











I live on genetically modified food, and you do you, and we both have been for decades. Surely you don't think cows, chickens, sheep, corn, soy and apples are found in the wild producing at the rate they do on the farm?

Here's the thing that the fear mongers will not tell you: genetically modified foods boost production and therefore take pressure off of wild lands so forest does not have to fall to field, and field does not have to fall to factory.

Here's another thing the fear monkeys will not tell you: genetically modified foods allow predators to come back to out fields... predators like the lady bugs, spiders, lacewings, and praying manti. Why is that a bad thing? Answer: It's not!

But don't believe me. Discover magazine tells the story:

In China, with Bt cotton reducing the need for insecticides, pest-eating bugs have rebounded and brought natural pest control with them.

China’s genetically modified cotton is not new. Farmers used to spray their cotton with a protein, naturally produced by the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria, which is toxic to certain insects. As research into genetically modified crops advanced, scientists implanted the cotton itself with the Bt genes that code for production of the insect toxin, creating so-called “Bt cotton” and alleviating the need for the sprayed insecticide. Since China approved its use in 1997, Bt cotton has proved itself particularly effective against the cotton bollworm moth, reducing the costs and side effects of spraying pesticides, but it has also decreased the number of non-pest insects compared with organic fields.
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2 comments:

Kerry Cowman said...

Your opinion on this issue surprised me, but that's part of why I enjoy reading your writing.

I am not a fear monger, but I have some real concerns about GMO corn. (I know nothing about cotton).

There is no sense in me shouting my opinion over the internet. GMO;s are a complicated issue and it would be at least a four beer discussion. If you ever want to drive to northwestern Pennsylvania, pack up your dogs and we can walk some fields talk it over.

Best Regards,

Richard Grossman

PBurns said...

Actually, we're probably close to being on the same page. I am not an unbridled cheerleader for all GMO -- just dead set against hysteria and ignorance. Screaming GMO seems to be a reactionary yell by the left, same as we get reactionary yells from the right. A curative to the fear mongering is to point out that almost everything we eat is GMO >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/03/genetically-modified-fruits-and.html and to gently remind folks that plants create poisons and cross-breed all the time -- in fact it almost defines what a plant is and does to survive!

Left to its own devices, domestic corn (which has no real wild analog that you would readily recognize) would probably develop pesticides or thorns (or both) unless it were wiped out by bugs and predators first. Every rose has its thorn, and every apple its cyanide.

GMO corn has its ups and downs, a point I will concede, but I would argue that GMO bt corn has more ups than widespread spraying, which is the only obvious alternative.

I am dead set against certain kinds of GMO wildlife without much much more study. See >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2004/08/end-of-game.html

I am rather concerned about fish farming in general (GMO or not) see >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/07/mutant-fish-in-frying-pan.html

It is not a simple Yes/No equation.