Bacillus Thuringiensis Bacterium

Can harm agriculture because bt plants get their name they incorporate a transgene that makes a protein based toxin alled the cry toxin from the bacterium bacillus thuringiensis.can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable.A lack of biological diversity not only reduces natural habitats, but may lead to higher risks of crop failure this was a major factor to the.

10. How might insects develop a resistance to Bt toxins? What ecological risks would this have? What could be done to combat this, and do you think that it would be effective?

They did so by adding a strand of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into the cotton’s deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)(Genetically Engineered). Monsanto’s most valuable consumer of Bt cotton is China. Even though Bt cotton is expensive, it still has lowered China’s cotton production fees by 14%. Before Bt cotton, Bollworms were capable of eating entire cotton crops, which also affected China’s textile industry. (“Genetically Engineered”). This is only one example of how GMOs can reduce pesticide use, and make crops available to countries who struggle with pests and do not have the monetary capability to purchase pesticide and herbicide.

When the United States regulators approved Monsanto’s Bt’s corn, which is genetically modified, they were aware that it would add deadly poisons to our food supply according to Jeffrey Smith. He claims that was what it was designed to do. The DNA of this corn was rigged with a gene derived from a soil bacteria called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) which creates the Bt-toxin which is hazardous to humans and animals alike. This Bt is a pesticide, which literally makes the bugs stomachs bust open which kills them. Monsanto and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ensured its consumers that only insects would be hurt. The Bt-toxin would be entirely destroyed in human’s digestive systems and have completely no impact whatsoever on anyone who consumes it, but later studies show this information was false (Smith, 1). In fact the toxin appeared in a majority of the blood tests.

The use of pesticides is an important decision that thousands of communities face each year. Nobody likes dealing with mosquitos and the diseases they bring so using chemicals and pesticides is an option but with other consequences. Mosquitos carry West Nile Virus that affects the city of Genericville every year with 50 cases projected this year in the city and two fatalities as well. On the other hand, the chemicals proposed for controlling the mosquito population has its own risks. The pesticide Malathion is also dangerous to people if they come in contact with it before it degrades. The potential for citizens of the city being exposed is almost a certainty

In the early 1940’s, a new technology emerged that was able to successfully combat crop-damaging and disease-carrying insects. A new age of synthetic chemical pesticides use arose. After their impressive success in fighting deadly insect-borne diseases during World War II, pesticides were used widely to combat insect pests for agriculture and public health. Few people challenged the benefits of the new scientific and technological products and many embraced pesticide use with enthusiasm. Despite its success, doubts about pesticide use began to appear a decade later in the 1950’s, when the government began a vigorous pesticide campaign across the country against insect pests. Scientists began reporting heavy losses of avian and

The banning of insecticide, a major pollutant and neurotoxin, has been up for debate for a significant period of time. However,

Carson clarifies that “the sprays, dust, and aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes-nonselective chemicals that have the power to kill every insect, the “good” and the “bad”.” In contemporary world today many people use these mankind chemicals without understanding the effects of nature. For example, the reproduction of bees are dropping traumatically because of the pesticides effects on the insects. According to CNN “How Pesticides are killing the bees “Recent data published in science, Nature and other un journals show that bees are dying from some pesticides that are found in our food supply.” The damaged the chemicals are doing to the bees have worries many scientists. The New York Times wrote, pesticide linked to honeybee deaths, “a group of pesticide believed to contribute to mass deaths of honeybees.” Another example of the harmful chemicals affecting the good insects are by destroying favorable insects such as lady bugs and butterflies, which are another great alternative way to pollinate flower. These beneficial insects are very important for human wellbeing; therefore, we should minimize the use of

For the study, local beekeepers worked with researchers at Louisiana University and the United States Department of Agriculture. Parts of the study were conducted in the field and in the laboratory. Researchers used the insecticides commonly used against mosquitoes to find out what level of the insecticides would become toxic. Field tests were done through a truck spraying fields with mosquito repellent. Cages of bees and mosquitoes were placed in the fields at different distances to see the effect.

Genetically modified crops are being developed to produce their own pesticide. This will bring the rapid appearance of resistant insects. Even worse, these pesticide producing plants have killed some beneficial insects and pests that many farmers use in their crops. For example, inserting a gene from a snowdrop, a perennial herb found in Europe and Asia into a potato, made the potato resistant to the green fly, but killed lady bugs that feed on green flies.

There are two types of GMO; herbicide tolerant and self-generating insecticide. “The herbicide tolerant variety are designed to survive high doses of toxic weed killers” (Must-Avoid Foods: Linking GMO to Toxicity and Disease, 2012). When the toxic weed killers get used on these crops, some of the toxins end up in the weed in the food. What is alarming is that the toxic weed killers are actually linked to birth defects, cancer, and hormone disruption (Must-Avoid Foods: Linking GMO to Toxicity and Disease, 2012). The self-generating insecticide such as corn, produces their own insecticide in each and every cell (Swanson, Genetically Modified Organisms and the deterioration of health in the United States, 2013). When insects eats the corn or any other food with the insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) toxin, the insecticide breaks open the stomach of insects in order to kill them. Although this supposedly applies only to insects, studies have shown that the BT-toxin can also break the wall of

The other major environmental concern, that Bt toxins pose a threat to non-target (species other than the pests which are trying to be eliminated and/or controlled) invertebrate and microbe species is similarly unfounded. EPA, 2001 concluded that:

It would appear that DDT would be the obvious choice to prevent cases of malaria in developing nations and all over the world. However, DDT is not without its potential hazards. DDT was used as a pesticide in the United States until it was banned in 1972. First employed as an insecticide in 1939, the white powder would kill massive amounts of mosquito larvae. Paul Müller actually won the Nobel Prize for first using the chemical on insects. The pesticide was used throughout the United States to combat more kinds of insect-pests such as gypsy moths. It was not

Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium. The most common victims of anthrax are warm-blooded animals, but it can also infect humans. Anthrax spores can be produced in a powdery form for biological warfare. When inhaled by humans, these particles cause respiratory failure and death within a week. Because anthrax is considered to be a potential agent for use in biological warfare, the Department of Defense (DOD), in 1998, announced it would begin a systematic vaccination of all U.S. military personnel. (DOD, 1998) Anthrax infection occurs in three forms: cutaneous (skin), inhalation, and gastrointestinal. B. anthracis spores can survive in the soil for many years and handling animal

A little later, back on this side of the pond, one of the first US pioneers in genetically modified foods dates back to 1941. Michael Way internationally recognized for his work on insect pest management. He joined Rothamsted Experimental Station in September 1943, where he studied DDT and other new insecticides. He made two major contributions to the world of entomology. The first contribution was a study on peach-potato aphid and the second pointed out during a debate in the 70’s on ecosystem diversity and stability, that for any pest problem, “how with the introduction of just one element of new diversity would usually be all that was needed to improve control. ( )