Monsanto Denies Superinsect Science

[marmar]

from Mother Jones:



As the summer growing season draws to a close, 2011 is emerging as the year of the superinsect—the year pests officially developed resistance to Monsanto's genetically engineered (ostensibly) bug-killing corn.

While the revelation has given rise to alarming headlines, neither Monsanto nor the EPA, which regulates pesticides and pesticide-infused crops, can credibly claim surprise. Scientists have been warning that the EPA's rules for planting the crop were too lax to prevent resistance since before the agency approved the crop in 2003. And in 2008, research funded by Monsanto itself showed that resistance was an obvious danger.

And now those unheeded warnings are proving prescient. In late July, as I reported recently, scientists in Iowa documented the existence of corn rootworms (a ravenous pest that attacks the roots of corn plants) that can happily devour corn plants that were genetically tweaked specifically to kill them. Monsanto's corn, engineered to express a toxic gene from a bacterial insecticide called Bt, now accounts for 65 percent of the corn planted in the US.

The superinsect scourge has also arisen in Illinois and Minnesota. "Monsanto Co. (MON)’s insect-killing corn is toppling over in northwestern Illinois fields, a sign that rootworms outside of Iowa may have developed resistance to the genetically modified crop," reports Bloomberg. In southern Minnesota, adds Minnesota Public Radio, an entomologist has found corn rootworms thriving, Bt corn plants drooping, in fields. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/09/monsanto-denies-superinsect-science

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Monsanto can try to lie to the EPA but

wait til they try to lie to their shareholders when enough corn dies and the quarterly profits take a hit.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. When artificial persons start putting out that the scientists are nuts . . .

. . . it's time to worry about the environment.

I don't know if this should get filed with the Global-Warming-Is-a-Hoax hoax and the There-is-no-linkage-between-cigarette-smoking-and-respiratory-disease line, but I am not about to take anything "Monsanto" says at face value.

EDITED to add:

This story makes perfect scientific sense, unless one completely disregards the theory of evolution by natural selection.

[Generic Other]

3. So now what do the brainiacs do?

Add additional bug spray?

It's like a bad William Burroughs novel.