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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Bt corn

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Heirloom Grower" <heirloomgrower AT gmail.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Bt corn
  • Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:19:39 -0600

The USDA has a vested interest in biotech. For example, the USDA in conjunction with Delta Land and Pine were responsible for the development of "Terminator" technology. DL&P were later aquired by Monsanto, but the USDA still holds interest in the patent.
 
Show me INDEPENDENT research by folks who do not have vested interest in the technology that pollen containing Bt toxin which targets caterpillars does not affect monarch caterpillars on the periphery of corn fields, and I might believe it. As I recall, initial research that appeared on the web in the first couple of years after Bt corn was grown in an open environment indicated that if caterpillars feeding on the perimeters of Bt corn fields did not die, they were stunted.
 
Elise

On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 1:56 PM, BillOhio <billohio AT gmail.com> wrote:
 
There is no significant risk to monarch butterflies from environmental exposure to Bt corn, according to research conducted by a group of scientists coordinated by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), U.S. Department of Agriculture. This research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) ...

The studies in this project showed that monarch caterpillars have to be exposed to pollen levels greater than 1,000 grains/cm2 to show toxic effects.

Caterpillars were found to be present on milkweed during the one to two weeks that pollen is shed by corn, but corn pollen levels on milkweed leaves were found to average only about 170 pollen grains/cm2 in corn fields.
 
I've seen several studies with the same conclusions.

With kind regards,
Bill Huhman
Central Ohio
On Fri, Feb 1, 2008 at 4:31 AM, The Foster Farm <fostesky AT hughes.net> wrote:
One of the big problems with Bt corn is the pollen drifting to other plants
and killing butterfly larvae. Monarchs are hit hard. How often do you see
milkweed, one of their primary caterpillar plants, growing at the edge of a
corn field? All the time. The pollen is blown onto the milkweed by the wind.
The larvae eat it and are done. Unintended, uncontrollable consequences. I
suppose Monsanto would call that expectable collateral damage. I think not.

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