In a message dated 1/12/2012 5:59:21 A.M. Central Standard Time,
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1.Genetically Engineered Crops in the Real World – Bt Corn, Insecticide
Use, and Honey Bees
2.Are Pesticides Behind Massive Bee Die-Offs?
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1.Genetically Engineered Crops in the Real World – Bt Corn, Insecticide
Use, and Honey Bees
Doug Gurian-Sherman
Union of Concerned Scientists, January 10 2012
http://blog.ucsusa.org/genetically-engineered-crops-in-the-real-world-%E2%80
%93-bt-corn-insecticide-use-and-honeybees-2
One of the most frequently mentioned benefits of genetically engineered
crops is a reduction in chemical pesticide use on corn and cotton. These
chemicals typically kill not only pest insects but also beneficial insects that
help control pests or pollinate crops. They may also harm other friendly
organisms like birds.
But in reality, corn engineered to kill certain insect pests—AKA Bt corn—
has mainly resulted in the replacement of one group of chemical
insecticides with another. Previously, corn may have been sprayed, or soil treated
with chemical insecticides to control several insect pests, especially corn
rootworm. Bt has largely eliminated (at least for the time being) the demand
for insecticides to control rootworm or European corn borer.
But those who tout the benefits of GE fail to mention that today virtually
all corn seed is treated instead with chemical insecticides called
neonicotinoids to ward off several corn insects not well controlled by Bt toxins.
And while almost all corn is now treated with insecticide via the seed,
substantial amounts of corn went untreated by insecticides prior to Bt. For
example, corn alternated (rotated) with soybeans from year to year usually
needed little or no insecticide treatment, and only five to 10 percent of corn
was sprayed for corn borers.
Dead bees
A new publication by several academic entomologists on the impact of
neonicotinoid insecticides on honey bees shows that such seed treatment may be
having serious repercussions. Previous research has linked neonicotinoids to
bee deaths as a possible contributor to colony collapse disorder, which is
wreaking havoc on bees across the United States.
The new research is important in showing that when neonicotinoid
insecticides are used as seed treatments, they can migrate through the soil or
through the air in dust to other plants near (or in) corn fields, like
dandelions, which honey bees prefer as a pollen source. It was already known that
this type of insecticide can travel through the plant as it grows, and this
study also shows corn pollen contaminated with this insecticide and
substantial corn pollen use by honey bees.
Importantly, the amount of the insecticide found in and around corn fields
is near the range known to kill honey bees, and dead bees collected near
treated fields contained insecticide residues. It is also known that
sub-lethal doses of these insecticides can disorient bees, and may make them more
susceptible to pathogens and parasites.
There are a few pieces of the puzzle that still remain to be put into
place, but it is looking likely that neonicotinoid seed treatments are harming
U.S. honey bees.
Let's get real
Other research indicates that corn seed treatment is harming other types
of beneficial insects. An extensive study in the U.S. Northeast on many
types of beneficial beetles that are found in corn fields showed that
neonicotinoid seed treatments likely harmed several of these species, although other
species may fill in. This study was limited to beetles, did not include
other beneficial insects, spiders and mites, and did not examine the
implications for crop damage. Other research has shown that reductions in
beneficial organisms can result in decreased crop yields.
In general, current data suggests that the new, ubiquitous seed treatments
that have accompanied Bt corn are just as harmful as the insecticides they
are replacing.
And it illustrates that the impacts of GE technology must be considered
more broadly than just direct harm from an engineered gene or protein. As the
authors of one of the studies wrote: "Field experimentation must consider
the effects of these broader systems for realistic evaluation of currently
deployed transgenic crops."
University of Illinois entomologist Mike Gray, an expert on corn rootworm,
summarized the state of U.S. corn production in a recent research article:
"The current lack of integration of management tactics for insect pests of
maize in the U.S. Corn Belt, due primarily to the escalating use of
transgenic Bt hybrids, may eventually result in resistance evolution and/or other
unforeseen consequences."
It is not incidental or coincidental that corn seed—and seed from more and
more other crops like soybeans—is being treated with insecticides. It is a
consequence of the susceptibility of our overly-simplified,
biologically-pauperized agricultural system, which relies on piecemeal pest control
approaches like Bt and chemical insecticides rather than ecologically based
systems that greatly reduce the opportunities for pests to get a foothold.
So, why not GE AND agroecology ?
Some vocal advocates of GE have acknowledged that we need to use better,
ecologically based agriculture practices, but maintain that we should
integrate GE into those systems. Such an approach would likely improve the
sustainability of GE pest control. But how would it advance truly sustainable
agriculture?
In healthy agro-ecosystems, there is usually limited need for these types
of pest control, and in most cases, that need can be met through breeding
at much less expense than GE. The fact is that GE seed is expensive (because
GE research and development is very expensive). And the large seed
companies have a near monopoly on this technology, so they can jack up seed prices
even further. Why should farmers be saddled with these unnecessary costs
when cheaper technologies will work in the large majority of cases?
As I have written before, GE may occasionally have a useful role, and may
sometimes provide real benefits. But in a sensible agriculture system it is
not clear that it is really needed, or worth the cost.
(Thanks to Chuck Benbrook at the Organic Center for alerting me to the new
article on bees and neonicotinoid insecticides)
About the author: Doug Gurian-Sherman is a widely-cited expert on
biotechnology and sustainable agriculture. He holds a Ph.D. in plant pathology.
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2.Are Pesticides Behind Massive Bee Die-Offs?
Tom Philpott
Mother Jones, Jan 10 2012
http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/01/purdue-study-implicates-bayer-pe
sticide-bee-die-offs?
For the German chemical giant Bayer, neonicotinoid pesticides—synthetic
derivatives of nicotine that attack insects' nervous systems—are big
business. In 2010, the company reeled in 789 million euros (more than $1 billion)
in revenue from its flagship neonic products imidacloprid and clothianidin.
The company's latest quarterly report shows that its "seed treatment"
segment—the one that includes neonics—is booming. In the quarter that ended on
September 30, sales for the company's seed treatments jumped 28 percent
compared to the same period the previous year.
Such results no doubt bring cheer to Bayer's shareholders. But for
honeybees—whose population has come under severe pressure from a mysterious
condition called colony collapse disorder—the news is decidedly less welcome. A
year ago on Grist, I told the story of how this class of pesticides had
gained approval from the EPA in a twisted process based on deeply flawed (by
the EPA's own account) Bayer-funded science. A little later, I reported that
research by the USDA's top bee scientist, Jeff Pettis, suggests that even
tiny exposure to neonics can seriously harm honeybees.
Now a study from Purdue University researchers casts further suspicion on
Bayer's money-minting concoctions. To understand the new paper—published in
the peer-reviewed journal Plos One—it's important to know how seed
treatments work, which is like this: The pesticides are applied directly to seeds
before planting, and then get absorbed by the plant's vascular system. They
are "expressed" in the pollen and nectar, where they attack the nervous
systems of insects. Bayer targeted its treatments at the most prolific US crop
—corn—and since 2003, corn farmers have been blanketing millions of acres
of farmland with neonic-treated seeds.
No one disputes that neonics are highly toxic to bees. But Bayer insists—
and so far, the EPA concurs—that little if any neonic-laced pollen actually
makes it into beehives, and that exposure to tiny amounts has no
discernible effect on hive health. Bayer also claims that bees don't forage much on
corn pollen.
The Purdue study calls all of this into question. The researchers looked
at beehives near corn fields and found that bees are "exposed to these
compounds [neonics] and several other agricultural pesticides in several ways
throughout the foraging period." Contradicting Bayer's claim that bees don't
forage much in cornfields, they found that "maize pollen was frequently
collected by foraging honey bees while it was available: maize pollen
comprised over 50% of the pollen collected by bees, by volume, in 10 of 20
samples." They detected "extremely high" levels of Bayer's clothianidin in the
fumes that rise up when farmers plant corn seed in the spring. They found it in
the soil of fields planted with treated seed—and also in adjacent fields
that hadn't been recently planted. And they found it in dandelion weeds
growing near cornfields—suggesting that the weeds might be taking it up from
the soil.
Most alarmingly of all, they found it in dead bees "collected near hive
entrances during the spring sampling period," as well as in "pollen collected
by bees and stored in the hive."
Now, neonic pesticides likely have two separate effects on bees: an acute
one during spring corn planting, when huge clouds of neonic-infested dust
rises up, at doses that kill bees that come into contact with it. Those
population losses weaken hives but don't typically destroy them. And then
there's a gradual effect—what scientists call "chronic"—when bees bring in
pollen contaminated at low levels by neonicotinoids. Research by the USDA's
Pettis suggests that even microscopic levels of exposure to neonics
compromises bees' immune systems, leaving hives vulnerable to other pathogens and pro
ne to collapse.
The EPA has thus far relied on Bayer-funded research to maintain its
registration of clothianidin —even after a leaked document in late 2010 showed
that its own staff scientists found Bayer's research to be shoddy. The
agency ignored the ensuing controversy and once again let farmers plant seed
treated with Bayer's concoction. The Purdue researchers report that
"virtually all" of the vast US corn crop is now planted with seed treated with
Bayer's dodgy pesticide, and the technology is rapidly spreading to the other
most prodigious US crops: soybeans, cotton, and wheat. Now, ahead of the 2012
growing season, we have peer-reviewed, USDA-funded research that bluntly
challenges Bayer's claims and implicates it in colony collapse disorder.
Will the EPA look the other way while tens of millions of acres are poisoned
for the nation's besieged honey bees?
Frankly, quite probably so. Bees can't organize political campaigns, of
course, and the beekeeper lobby doesn't wield much influence in the grand
scheme of things—though Pesticide Action Network is working hard to amplify
their voice. Bayer, meanwhile, is a paid-up member of Croplife America, a
powerful agribusiness interest group that the Obama administration won't
likely want to tangle with heading into an election. Bad news for bees—and bad
news for the ecosystem of which they're such a vital part: ours.
Tom Philpott is the food and ag blogger for Mother Jones.
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