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Rigging the Science of GMO Ecotoxicity
Latham, Jonathan
http://www.independentsciencenews.org/environment/new-evidence-of-gmo-bt-crop-safety-manipulation/Date Written: 2019-01-29 Publisher: Independent Science News Year Published: 2019 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX23380 Scientific article about dangers of GMO plants and techniques used by developers to disguise harms to get GMOs through testing. Abstract: -- Excerpt: The resulting crops are usually called Bt crops. Cry toxins kill insects that eat the GMO crop because the toxin punches a hole in the membranes of the insect gut when it is ingested, causing the insect to immediately stop feeding and eventually die of septicaemia. Cry toxins are controversial. Although the biotech industry claims they have narrow specificity, and are therefore safe for all organisms except so-called 'target' organisms, plenty of researchers disagree. They suspect that Cry toxins may affect many non-target species, even including mammals and humans. The Cry toxin mode of action, we and others have noted, does not necessarily discriminate between species. Any organism with a membrane-lined gut is, in principle, vulnerable if it consumes the GMO Bt crop. In these Bt crops the leaves, straw, roots, nectar, and pollen, all typically contain Cry toxins. Therefore, most organisms in agricultural landscapes will at some point in their life-cycle be exposed to GMO plant material. As pollinator declines and a more generalised insect apocalypse have revealed, the question of the effects of such crops on biodiversity is far from trivial. Subject Headings |