The Importance Of Bt Resistance

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?

Acidity increases by ten times for one pH level increase. Soil pH is a major constraint on plant growth. Since plants are the base of the ecosystem, pillbugs may be affected by the pH change as well. Soil acidity can be assisted by addition of certain other plants, like AM fungi, or the addition of basic materials (Kawahara, et. al., 2016). We decided to investigate which pH level pillbugs naturally preferred. We created three different choice chambers that had pH levels of 5, 7, and 9. This experiment will test if pH has an effect on pillbug choice of habitat.We predicted that there will be more pillbugs in the choice chamber with a pH of 7 because a pH level of 5.5 to 7 is considered to be the normal, natural environment of pillbugs. Usually, the pH that pillbugs are found in are 5.5 to 7 (Kawahara, et. al., 2016). In each habitat, the number of pillbugs will be counted every minute for 15 minutes. If a pillbug is in between chambers during the counting, they may be counted for the chamber to which they are

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.

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

As long as Bt and non-Bt are crops are segregated and planted adequate distances away from each other, they will pollinate themselves well before Bt pollen arrives via wind or insects. The same EPA report concludes that, in the United States, the transfer of genes to wild species is also quite low. For Bt corn and potatoes the risk is essentially zero since wild varieties do not exist here. Bt cotton is also grown in the U.S., and in Southern Florida and Hawaii where wild varieties exist the EPA has banned Bt cotton cultivation. Thus, limiting the planting of Bt crops to areas where they have no native relatives negates the problem.

Not only are GMOs harmful to humans they affect many other communities. “GMOs are also responsible for killing off bees, bats, butterflies, and other pollinators, whose bodies are unable to handle the onslaught of altered DNA and chemicals that are characteristic of GMO technologies”(Bensen). This shows that GMO is not only an issue for humans but it directly affects the insect and animals communities around the plants. These are living organisms that these plants need for pollination. GMOs and the pesticides used on these crops to fight off the insects and weeds is creating more powerful weeds and insects called “SuperWeeds” and “SuperBugs.” “And this built-in resistance has allowed farmers to indiscriminately spray chemicals like Roundup on their crops without worrying about killing them. But this system is now failing, as the weeds and pests targeted by GMO technologies have mutated and developed resistance to crop chemicals and Bt toxin” (Benson). These chemicals are effective for a short period of time However these chemicals become ineffective, the offspring of the insects can be immune to the chemical. This creates a need for a new and stronger chemical mix. GMO seeds and destroy the soil and kill beneficial

Transgenic Corn- Bt corn is one of the many corn varieties which has become both commercially and ecologically popular, it is corn that is essentially invulnerable to Caterpillars and Other Boring insects because of this and the need not to intensively use weedkiller on the affected corn Farmers can cut down on the use of Roundup and other weed killers and insecticides.

Another advantage of genetically modified sugar beets is their resistance to herbicides or ability to control invasive weeds, which promotes cost effectiveness. On average, sugar beets require five to six months to fully mature, and during this extensive process, weeds often become invasive and consume the majority of available nutrients within the soil (Johnson, 2009). Therefore, to aid in the process of weed reduction and increase crop viability, most farmers apply an assortment of herbicides to their fields. Before genetically modified sugar beets arrived on the scene, herbicide application proved harmful for the struggling roots since active components in Roundup and other weed killers manipulated their health. Now that sugarbeets are immune

For this assignment, consider what we learned about natural selection and mutation, as it pertains to health issues like TB and head lice, and apply it to pesticide use and farming. Next explain, pesticide treadmill and, “Why it is a concern to farmers and consumers.

Critics fear that continual use of chemicals could result in “super weeds” and “super bugs”.

When it comes to sugar consumption, the health and assets of genetically modified sugar beets can only be evaluated by individual consumers. While the U.S. Beet Sugar Industry approves the safety of these genetically engineered organisms, there is always the potential of contamination among non-GMO crops through wind pollination. Also, even though these transgenic roots are immune to the effects of glyphosate, many consumers and sugar-reliant companies are steering toward natural adaptations for production. Lastly, the potential for herbicide-tolerant weeds may outweigh the benefits of flexible spraying regulations. In the words of Ann Wigmore, “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form

There was no significant (p<0.05) difference between the initial weights of the lugworms in the 4 sample groups, avoiding any bias in treatments. As Figure 4 shows each sample group showed a large increase in weight after exposure to the diluted salinities with the lugworms that were placed in full strength seawater not showing an increase of more than 1.7%.

Along with the possibility of GMO crops spreading and taking over other strains of the crop GMO 's can also affect different species of insects in the area potentially destroying the

Genetically Modified insect resistant crops produce the toxic substances as a results it effect non-target organism and entire ecosystem. Biodiversity has significant role to balance environment as biodiversity decreases interaction between species decrease and ecosystem and food chain affect adversely. Some weeds are source of food for