Superbug vs. Monsanto: Nature rebels against biotech titan
Published: 25 June, 2012, 05:11
Edited: 25 June, 2012, 15:38
Edited: 25 June, 2012, 15:38
Western corn rootworms have been able to harmlessly consume the genetically modified maize, a research paper published in the latest issue of the journal GM Crops & Food reveals. A 2010 sample of the rootworm population had an elevenfold survival rate on the genetically modified corn compared to a control population. That’s eight times more than the year before, when the resistant population was first identified.
Experts are also noting that this year’s resistant rootworm populations are maturing earlier than expected. In fact, the time the bug’s larvae hatched was the earliest in decades.
“The Western corn rootworm 'season' is underway at a pace earlier than I have experienced since I began studying this versatile insect as a graduate student in the late 1970s,” entomologist Mike Gray wrote in The Bulletin, a periodical issued by the University of Chicago’s Department of Crop Studies.
Studies in other states have also revealed that the rootworm population is becoming increasingly resistant to genetically modified corn. Last year, Iowa State University researcher Aaron Gassmann noted that a number of farmers reported discovering, much to their dismay, that a large number of rootworms survived after the consumption of their GM crops. Gassmann branded these pests “superbugs.”
Farmers and food companies have increasingly been dependent on GM crops, and many have abandoned crop rotation, a practice that has been used to stave off pest infestations for centuries. Some have even gone as far as to ignore federal regulation, which require the GM corn plantations be accompanied by a small “refuge” of non-GM maize.
The recent findings have potentially devastating ramifications for both farmers and consumers. Genetic maize plantation would easily come under attack from the swelling number of “superbugs,” resulting in dwindling harvest numbers for farmers. Ultimately, consumers will pay the price not only for corn, an essential product whose derivatives are used in a plethora of products ranging from yogurts to baby powder, but for other crops sold in the market. Rising corn prices would mean that more farmers would plant corn, despite the risks, and the yield for other crops would drop. That would drive prices for virtually all food items up, hitting hard on a population already smitten by ongoing economic difficulties.
Monsanto launched its anti-rootworm GM corm in 2003. The Cry3Bb1 protein, derived from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt.) bacterium, was inserted into the corn’s genetic code. The embedded protein was supposed to be fatal to all rootworms.
The recent findings came days after Monsanto, along with other biotech companies, got a major boost from a congressional panel, which okayed the manufacture of GM crops despite pending legal challenges. Many of the lawsuits that Monsanto faces include assessments that its crops are unsafe for human consumption and affect the health of unborn children.
Monsanto has also been an active plaintiff itself. Its primary targets include entities that seek to label GM foods, and small farmers, whom the biotech behemoth accuses of using genetically modified crops patented by Monsanto.
15-Year-Old Field of GM Tifton 85 Grass Suddenly Produces Cyanide; Kills Cattle
http://www.examiner.com/article/15-year-old-field-of-gm-tifton-85-grass-suddenly-produces-cyanide-kills-cattle
East Tennessee Green Living
Examiner
According to Jerry Abel, the owner of the 80-acre farm just east of Austin, TX, “When our trainer first heard the bellowing, he thought our pregnant heifer may be having a calf or something,” said Abel. “But when he got down here, virtually all of the steers and heifers were on the ground. Some were already dead, and the others were already in convulsions.” Fifteen of the 18 cattle turned into the pasture were dead within hours.
Initial tests on the grass showed that the grass was producing cyanide gas, killing the cattle. According to the report, USDA scientists are currently dissecting the grass to determine if a random mutation may be to blame, and what may have caused it to occur. Dr. Gary Warner, an Elgin veterinarian and cattle specialist who conducted the 15 necropsies on the dead cattle, suggested a possible link to the ongoing drought, expressing concern that it may be a combination of factors that led to the mutation. Other ranchers in the area have had their Tifton 85 fields tested, and several of the samples have tested positive for cyanide, although no other cattle are believed to have died to date.
Although at least one reporter claims that Tifton 85 grass is not genetically modified, the report upon which she bases her claim does not mention genetic modification one way or another, nor does it specifically state that Tifton 85 was developed by conventional plant breeding. Similar refutations on the web, such as this one stating that Tifton 85 is conventionally bred, offer neither credentials nor any evidence. This site, however, maintained by The Georgia Seed Development Commission, states conclusively that Tifton 85 is a sterile pentaploid, which means that the two parent varieties had differing numbers of chromosomes, thus creating a naturally sterile hybrid (similar to crossing a donkey and a horse, resulting in a sterile mule.) According to the original news report, however, the farmers were aware that the grass they planted had been genetically modified, with reporter Lisa Leigh Kelly stating: "The grass is a genetically modified form of Bermuda known as Tifton 85."
Regardless of whether the Tifton 85 in this case was genetically modified or conventionally bred, we know that it is a hybrid resulting from a cross between Tifton 68 and an African bermudagrass, the latter of which was known to produce cyanide gas in certain situations.
Although the debate over conventional plant breeding versus genetic engineering in a laboratory is important and scientifically valid, both methods can yield unintended consequences. Even natural, non-hybridized grasses can cause cyanide poisoning in livestock, as many plants, including many grasses, respond to stresses such as drought by producing biochemical compounds, including cyanide, which provide the plants a variety of benefits including protection from herbivores.
Other toxins abound in the plant world, making it vital for ranchers to properly assess the plants in any intended grazing area, for the safety of their livestock. This can prove frustrating, however, as stated on Cornell University’s website of Plants Toxic to Livestock: “IMPORTANT: Just because something is on the poisonous plants list doesn't mean it can't be a good food or feed, and just because it is absent from the list doesn't mean it is safe!”
With such questions of safety arising from even native plants, one has to wonder even more about the wisdom of the USDA’s recent decision to approve the sale and planting of GMO alfalfa and other crops, despite mounting evidence of the harm created by those genetically modified organisms already released. It certainly throws a major wrench into the works for small producers of organic, pasteured meats, poultry and milk, although the Center for Food Safety has already vowed to sue both the USDA and Monsanto to prevent its release, as they successfully sued to prevent the release of Monsanto’s GM sugar beets.
Monsanto’s genetically modified Round-up Ready Corn, soybeans and other crops have, along with Bayer’s neonicotinoid insecticides, have long been suspected in the widespread disappearance of European honeybees and other vital pollinating insects, and a study released in March also implicates Monsanto’s GM crops for recent declines in the populations of monarch butterflies. In addition, the widespread use of Round-Up has led to the creation of entire new generations of herbicide-resistant “superweeds,” which have become such an epidemic that they were a main topic of last month’s National Weed Summit.
All of this makes it that much sadder – and more infuriating – that the Senate voted a resounding “NO” to labeling genetically modified organisms in our food supply. If nothing else, they have drawn the line in the sand, since over 90% of Americans are in favor of mandatory labeling. If nothing else, it makes it all the more important for each of us to support the efforts toward mandatory labeling of GMOs in California.
So, all other questions aside, how can a rancher best provide high-quality forage for his cattle, while reducing or eliminating the possibility of a recurrence of cyanide poisoning, such as that in Texas? One way would be to establish fields of Native Warm-Season Grasses (NWSG), such as those promoted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
These fields can be established either by direct planting, or by active soil management, to allow the seedbank already present in the soil to grow and thrive. Since the varieties are native to Tennessee, and therefore already adapted to our climate and its extremes, they require fewer soil amendments and/or chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides than do commercially available grasses. If they are interplanted with a nitrogen-fixing plant such as clover, and the soil treated with waste mica to provide a source of soluble potassium, there is a chance to eliminate chemical fertilizers entirely, which would help to improve the health of the soil food web and of the cattle, not to mention the end consumers.
It is certainly preferable to the apparent biological time bomb, awaiting the as-yet-unknown proper conditions for spontaneous cyanide production, that is Tifton 85.
Grass linked to Texas cattle deaths
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57459357/gm-grass-linked-to-texas-cattle-deaths/June 23, 2012 1:01 PM
(CBS News) ELGIN, Texas - A mysterious mass death of a herd of cattle has prompted a federal investigation in Central Texas.
Preliminary test results are blaming the deaths on the grass the cows were eating when they got sick, reports CBS Station KEYE.
The cows dropped dead several weeks ago on an 80-acre ranch owned by Jerry Abel in Elgin, just east of Austin.
Abel says he's been using the fields for cattle grazing and hay for 15 years. "A lot of leaf, it's good grass, tested high for protein - it should have been perfect," he told KEYE correspondent Lisa Leigh Kelly.
The grass is a hybrid form of Bermuda known as Tifton 85 which has been growing here for 15 years, feeding Abel's 18 head of Corriente cattle. Corriente are used for team roping because of their small size and horns.
"When we opened that gate to that fresh grass, they were all very anxious to get to that," said Abel.
Three weeks ago, the cattle had just been turned out to enjoy the fresh grass, when something went terribly wrong.
"When our trainer first heard the bellowing, he thought our pregnant heifer may be having a calf or something," said Abel. "But when he got down here, virtually all of the steers and heifers were on the ground. Some were already dead, and the others were already in convulsions."
Within hours, 15 of the 18 cattle were dead.
"That was very traumatic to see, because there was nothing you could do, obviously, they were dying," said Abel.
Preliminary tests revealed the Tifton 85 grass, which has been here for years, had suddenly started producing cyanide gas, poisoning the cattle.
"Coming off the drought that we had the last two years ... we're concerned it was a combination of events that led us to this," Dr. Gary Warner, an Elgin veterinarian and cattle specialist who conducted the 15 necropsies, told Kelly.
What is more worrisome: Other farmers have tested their Tifton 85 grass, and several in Bastrop County have found their fields are also toxic with cyanide. However, no other cattle have died.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are dissecting the grass to determine if there might have been some strange, unexpected mutation.
Until it can be determined why this grass suddenly began producing cyanide, Abel is keep his livestock far away.
"The grasshoppers are enjoying it now," he said.
CORRECTION: As originally published, this story referred to Tifton 85 grass as a genetically-modified product, which is incorrect; it is actually a hybrid of Bermuda grass.
Grass tied to Texas cattle deaths hybrid, not GM
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57459975/grass-tied-to-texas-cattle-deaths-hybrid-not-gm/?tag=contentMain;contentBody
June 25, 2012 2:10 PM
(CBS News) The recent deaths of 15 head of cattle in Bastrop County have been linked to the grass in the field where they were grazing, which tests indicated produced cyanide gas.The findings were first reported by CBS Station KEYE in Austin.
Federal officials are investigating whether a random mutation of the grass variety was responsible.
However, it was incorrectly reported that the grass the cows ingested - a form of Bermuda grass known as Tifton 85 - was a genetically modified organism.
In fact, Tifton 85 is a hybrid, not a GM organism.
Hybrids are plants in which horticulturalists have crossed varieties of two or more plants in order to cultivate the most desirable characteristics of each, a process which has been used by farmers for centuries.
According to the Georgia Seed Development Commission, Tifton 85 is a Bermuda grass hybrid developed in the mid-1980s as a hay grass that could withstand cold temperatures.
It was a grass which Elgin, Texas rancher Jerry Abel has used for 15 years without incident, until several of his herd died.
An official at the Department of Agriculture told CBS News that there are currently no genetically modified grasses on the market or bring grown for public use or consumption.
