Monday, July 9, 2012

And Who Is Surprised By This?

Last fall, the Environmental Protection Agency warned that Monsanto’s Bt corn, which was genetically engineered a decade ago to ward off rootworms, is now falling prey to worms that have developed resistance to the plants’ built-in insecticide. The EPA also expressed concern that Monsanto’s monitoring was “inadequate and likely to miss early resistance events.”

At the time, a company spokesperson denied there was a problem, telling Bloomberg News, “Monsanto continues to believe there’s no scientific confirmation of resistance to its Bt corn.”

However, this year’s corn-growing season is now well under way in the United States, and in some places the crops are suffering severe damage. Scientists have identitied the culprit as Bt-resistant rootworms.
  Raw Story
Any self-respecting scientist or student of biology could have predicted this (and did). The only reason Monsanto was able to push this technology on the world is the big money they spend on lobbying Congress members who not only have no self-respect, they have no shame, and no conscience.
The resistant rootworms have also appeared in South Africa, India, and China, but they may have the greatest impact in the United States, where more than half the corn grown is Bt.

In addition, American taxpayers could find themselves picking up the tab for any crop failures, thanks to government subsidies.
There's no “could” to that. It's guaranteed. And the price you pay for corn products will go up as you pay a premium to the growers who have been storing corn, waiting for the right time – like now, pull it out of their grain bins and put it on the market.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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