GE CORN & SICK HONEY BEES - WHAT’S THE LINK?
SUMMARY: "In the early 1990s, we were really good at growing corn using bio-intensive integrated pest management. In practice, that meant crop rotations, supporting natural predators, using biocontrol agents like ladybugs and as a last resort, using chemical controls only after pests had been scouted for and found. During this time of peak bio-IPM adoption, today’s common practice of blanketing corn acreage with “insurance” applications of various pesticides without having established the need to do so would have been unthinkable.
STUDY TIES GMO CORN, SOYBEANS TO BUTTERFLY LOSSES
SUMMARY: "The rapid spread of herbicide-resistant crops has coincided with -- and may explain -- the dramatic decline in monarch numbers that has troubled some naturalists over the past decade, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University. Between 1999 and 2010, the same period in which so-called GMO crops became the norm for farmers, the number of monarch eggs declined by an estimated 81 percent across the Midwest, the researchers say.
NEW SUPERBUGS IN THE FIELDS?
SUMMARY: "Today Testbiotech is publishing a new backgrounder warning that the insecticide producing genetically engineered maize MON88017 might help pest insects become even more harmful. Researchers in a US laboratory have shown that the pest insects, known as corn rootworm, may not only become resistant to the insecticide producing maize plants, but the development of the larvae can be speeded up and fertility higher.
ILLEGAL GE CANOLA FOUND GROWING IN SWISS PORT AREA
SUMMARY: "The GE canola was found growing wild in Basel’s port area. It is suspected that the canola seeds fell to the ground during the transit of barges or freight trains. Greenpeace Switzerland tested 136 canola plants and found 29 that tested positive for GE, all of which were Monsanto´s herbicide-tolerant canola, GT73. This was not the first time GE contamination has happened through a port area. In 2005 Japanese researchers found that GE canola had escaped into the wild from major shipping ports along the Japanese coast.
High and Dry: Why Genetic Engineering Is Not Solving Agriculture's Drought Problem in a Thirsty World (2012)
High and Dry is the third in a series of reports highlighting genetic engineering’s limitations and demonstrating the importance of increasing public investment in more effective—but often neglected—agricultural technologies. The first two reports in the series are Failure to Yield and No Sure Fix.
Download the full report here: http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/high-and-dry...
