Whether GMO foods are safe to eat is one question. Put that question aside and look at what we do know now regarding one crop, Bt Corn – designed to eliminate the need for pesticides to control rootworm, a destructive beetle like insect, that feeds on the roots of corn. This damage to the corn plants roots is tremendously costly for the farmer and on up the chain. Bt Corn changed this by having the toxin that kills rootworm introduced in the species transgenically. In the short term it worked, crop yields improved and losses due to rootworm dropped dramatically. All along, a variety of scientists had warned that natural selection could dramatically offset these gains and these warnings were ignored. Lobbying by the manufacturers resulted in relaxed rules environmentally by the EPA and even farmers ignored guidelines of the seed manufacturers themselves resulting in what they face now – a rootworm that is resistant to the toxin designed to kill them. There are many links online to this information but here’s a well written article that also provides a backdrop to the issue.
