As Studies Show Corn Rootworm Resistance w/i 3 Generations, Monsanto Denies Problems

[hatrack]

EDIT

Monsanto, for its part, is reacting to the news with a hearty "move along—nothing to see here!" "Our is effective," Monsanto scientist Dusty Post insisted in an interview with The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We don't have any demonstrated field resistance," he added, pretending away the Iowa study, to speak nothing those corn fields that are "toppling over" in Illinois and and Minnesota.

But the company's denials ring hollow for another reason, too. Bill Freese, science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety, alerted me to this 2008 study, conducted by University of Missouri researchers and published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on this precise question of Bt corn and rootworms.

The first thing to notice about the study is that Monsanto is listed in the acknowledgements as one of the "supporters." So this is Monsanto-funded research, meaning that he company would be hard-pressed to deny knowledge of it. The researchers found that within three generations, rootworms munching Monsanto's Bt corn survived at the same rate as rootworms munching pesticide-free corn—meaning that complete resistance had been achieved. Takeaway message: rootworms are capable of evolving resistance to Monsanto's corn in "rapid" fashion.

But such concerns were nothing new by 2008. From the early days of Bt-based GMOs in the '90s, everyone—Monsanto, the EPA, independent scientists—agreed that farmers would have to plant a portion of their fields in non-Bt corn to control resistance. The idea was that, as bugs in the Bt portion of the field began to develop resistance, they would mate with non-resistant bugs from the so-called "refuge" patch, and the resistant trait would be kept recessive within the larger bug population and thus under control.

EDIT

http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/09/monsanto-denies-superinsect-science

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Two words: Class Action

Commercial Uniform Code

[Webster Green]

2. This is a terrorist predator corporation.

They should not even be allowed to exist. Monsanto's greedy, foolish plan to privatize the worlds food supply is a huge threat to the earth's bio-diversity. Monsanto needs to be eliminated by whatever means possible. Any action taken against them would be one of self defense.

[pscot]

3. Somewhere, John Brunner

is thinking, "I tried to tell them."

[Hydra]

4. *lmao*

I think they teach this in BIO 101. Especially laughworthy is the idea of keeping some of your corn not protected so the worms don't mate with other resistant worms.

Monsanto: Protection you don't even notice!(especially when the harvest doesn't come in)