Ask Kelloggs To Stop Using Butterfly-Killing Corn

[Guest guest]

Source-Barbara Biel

 

New Field Evidence Confirms Gene-altered Corn Kills

Monarch Butterflies Join Greenpeace in Calling on

Kellogg's to Stop Using Butterfly-killing

Corn.http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/save/alerts/monarchs.htm

 

 

A two-year field study on the effects of genetically

engineered (GE) corn has confirmed laboratory evidence

that pollen from the GE crop can kill monarch

butterflies. The Iowa scientists concluded that

increased risks to monarchs " may be substantial, " and

warned, " the ecological effects of transgenic

insecticidal crops need to be evaluated more fully

before they are planted over extensive areas. "

 

Currently, twenty million acres of Bt corn are grown

in the U.S Kellogg's has moved to eliminate

genetically engineered foods from its products in

Europe, but the company tells consumers in the U.S.

that the corn they eat may be genetically altered.

 

It's Kellogg's vs. Monarch Butterflies

 

***TAKE ACTION ONLINE:***

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/save/alerts/monarchs.htm

 

Or call Kellogg's at: 1-800-962-1413 and tell them to

go GE-free and stop the threat to monarch butterflies

and our health.

 

**Please forward to other animal advocacy groups and

individuals**

 

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[Guest guest]

Just for the sake of balance, take a look at

 

http://dailynews./h/hsn/20000816/hl/study_modified_corn_doesn_t_hurt_bu\

tterflies_1.html

 

Also take a look at http://www.fooddialogue.com/monarch/index.html (a

Monstanto site, not exactly objective).

 

This links talks more about

the Iowa State study: http://biz./rf/000821/n2181039.html

 

So it looks like there is some controversy on this issue. One of the main

points of contention is the validity of lab versus field tests. It would

be interesting to know who funded these various studies, also.

 

Clark

 

www.VeganVoice.com

 

From

http://dailynews./h/hsn/20000816/hl/study_modified_corn_doesn_t_hurt_bu\

tterflies_1.html

 

Wednesday August 16 03:20 AM EDT

Study: Modified Corn Doesn't Hurt Butterflies

By Adam Marcus

HealthSCOUT Reporter

 

MONDAY, June 5 (HealthSCOUT) -- The finding last year that corn pollen

genetically rigged to poison pests might also harm monarch butterflies put

a significant dent in the already battered public image of genetically

modified crops.

 

But new research suggests that the threat might not be so great after

all. Black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars that ate so-called Bt corn

pollen in the wild didn't appear worse off for it, according to a new

report by Illinois scientists.

 

The researchers did find, however, that the insects were killed in the lab

by extremely high doses of one kind of Bt corn, though not the strain used

in the field experiment. A handful of companies, including Monsanto

Co. and Novartis, make versions of the product, which contains a gene for

a poison that targets the European corn borer, a voracious insect partial

to corn, potatoes and beans. Last year, Monsanto alone sold roughly 17

million acres worth of Bt corn seeds, according to the company.

 

May Berenbaum, a butterfly expert at the University of Illinois and

co-author of the study, says the work " is not a ringing endorsement " of

genetically modified crops. Rather, Berenbaum says, it underscores the

fact that scientists simply don't know enough about the technology to make

generalizations about it.

 

Still, she says, one thing seems clear. Every agricultural practice, from

spraying pesticides to planting crops, has some bad if unintended impact

on the environment. The question then is how much and what kind of damage

farmers, policy makers and the public are willing to accept. Berenbaum's

findings appear in the June 6 issue of the Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences.

 

The initial concern about Bt's effects on butterflies was sparked last

year when Cornell University scientists reported that the altered pollen

killed monarch larvae in lab tests. Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed

plants, which often grow beside and among corn. So, the researchers

speculated, dustings of Bt pollen might easily fall on monarch feeding

grounds.

 

Does lab work translate to field?

 

Although the discovery was used by critics of genetically altered crops

(which they disparagingly call " Frankenfood " ) as evidence of their

unforeseen peril, experts were cautious about the report since it looked

only at what happens to the butterflies in the laboratory, not in the

field.

 

Hoping to complete the picture, Berenbaum and her colleagues planted rows

of parsnip plants -- the swallowtail's favorite food -- alongside and

downwind from a field of corn grown from Pioneer seeds (doped with

Monsanto's Bt gene) sown by a local farmer. On each parsnip they put 10

black swallowtail larvae, and recorded how many died, and how much they

grew, over a week.

 

If the pollen were toxic to the insects, those closest to the corn plants

and those exposed to more pollen would be most likely to suffer harm. But

Berenbaum's group saw no difference in caterpillar weight or death rate

using either of these variables. " We certainly had mortality, but it

wasn't correlated to distance or pollen deposition, " she says.

 

The researchers did find that, in a related lab study, swallowtail

caterpillars that consumed massive doses of another form of Bt corn pollen

died off at much higher rates than expected. Yet similar doses of the

planted strain did not appear harmful, Berenbaum says.

 

John Obrycki, a butterfly expert at Iowa State University in Ames, who has

studied the effects of transgenic crops on the insects, says the latest

finding underscores the need for more research into " non-target " effects

of the manipulated products. " This just shows that there will be variation

in the responses of butterflies to the Bt toxin, " says Obrycki.

 

Scarlett Foster, a spokeswoman for Monsanto Co., which recently merged

with another company to become Pharmacia, says the Illinois study

demonstrates that its Bt corn is " a good, safe product. "

 

Not only does the altered pollen pose a minimal threat in the field,

Foster says, but it is in fact better for non-target insects by virtue of

its highly specific nature.

 

" We're actually finding that the number of beneficial insects are

increasing from the use of biotechnology, not decreasing, " Foster

says. Pesticide sprays " are not targeted, but Bt only works on certain

insects. "

 

Berenbaum agrees that genetically modified crops have the potential to be

less scattershot than traditional pesticides. But, she adds, they raise a

host of other serious issues, including their potential threat to human

health -- which is unknown now -- and their risk of spreading unwanted

genes to other plant species.

 

> Source-Barbara Biel

>

> New Field Evidence Confirms Gene-altered Corn Kills

> Monarch Butterflies Join Greenpeace in Calling on

> Kellogg's to Stop Using Butterfly-killing

> Corn.http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/save/alerts/monarchs.htm

>

> A two-year field study on the effects of genetically

> engineered (GE) corn has confirmed laboratory evidence

> that pollen from the GE crop can kill monarch

> butterflies. The Iowa scientists concluded that

> increased risks to monarchs " may be substantial, " and

> warned, " the ecological effects of transgenic

> insecticidal crops need to be evaluated more fully

> before they are planted over extensive areas. "

>

> Currently, twenty million acres of Bt corn are grown

> in the U.S Kellogg's has moved to eliminate

> genetically engineered foods from its products in

> Europe, but the company tells consumers in the U.S.

> that the corn they eat may be genetically altered.

>

> It's Kellogg's vs. Monarch Butterflies

>

> ***TAKE ACTION ONLINE:***

> http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/save/alerts/monarchs.htm

>

> Or call Kellogg's at: 1-800-962-1413 and tell them to

> go GE-free and stop the threat to monarch butterflies

> and our health.

>

> **Please forward to other animal advocacy groups and

> individuals**