Evolutionary breeding, just like weeds

September 2022

Despite all the toxins, genetic devices, and shear physical destruction we throw at them, pests of all kinds continue to thrive in our fields. As climate change imposes all manner of unusual stresses on the environment, farmers and their crops struggle, while pests go from strength to strength.

It's not too difficult to see why. 

Gene-edited mushrooms

July 2022

In 1932, a legal issue which started with a tenacious Scottish single-parent shop-assistant, who took exception to being served up a decomposing snail in her ice-cream float and pursued her complaint all the way to the House of Lords, ended with the creation of a consumer rights law which became established throughout the world.

The significance of this case is that manufacturers of "articles of common household use" have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of their products for anyone likely to use them.

From a GM food perspective, novel foods have never been comprehensively tested to ensure their safe, life-long, consumption by any likely consumers.

GM sceptics might suggest that the failure to carry out human trials or use up-to-date analytical techniques on GM foods is to make sure the manufacturer doesn't know about any potential problems.

What better way to avoid that pesky duty of care to ensure safety?

GM crops adding to ecosystem collapse

June 2022

A key selling-point for 'Bt' insecticide-generating GM crops is that they reduce the need to spray chemical pesticides on the crop. It is claimed this makes them 'environmentally-friendly'.

Indeed, a study published in 2014, which combined data from 147 studies world-wide, showed a significant 42% reduction in the quantity of pesticide applied on Bt crops compared to conventional ones. This was much hyped as proof of the benefits of GM in agriculture by the pro-GM lobby and by the UK government committee which reported it. The study was, however, narrowly focused on comparisons of the weight of pesticide applied in kilograms per hectare or per year. Pre-emptive systemic insecticides, put on the seed but not sprayed onto the crop in the field, were not factored in.

Weak skinned Bt plants with Bt unfriendly viruses

May 2022

'Bt' insecticide-generating GM crops are sold as a major weapon in the battle against key species of pest without the need for chemical applications.

The initial benefits of Bt are eroded within a few years, not only by the evolution of resistance in the target pests, but by Bt-resistant non-target pests which are happy to fill the vacant seat at the monoculture banquet.

Early on, we had reports of out-of-control mealy bugs on Bt crops in India and Pakistan [1] and mirid bugs in China [2]. These are assumed to be the result of reduced spraying with broad-spectrum insecticides thanks to Bt.

However, there are some much more complicated environmental interactions going on. For example, mirid bugs were previously minor pests on cotton until the Bt GM version came along.

Super toxic Bt cowpeas

May 2022

In 1990, Monsanto scientists published their latest discovery about the new 'Bt' insecticides generated by GM crops which were soon to become every farmers 'must-have'.

Their exciting finding, with an "immediate commercial implication" was that the insecticidal power of Bt could be increased many fold if its degradation was prevented by the plant itself. Many plants produce substances which prevent the breakdown of proteins, such as the Bt toxin, possibly to keep herbivores at bay by interfering with their digestion. The authors suggested this would confer "significant and long-term implications and benefits" on Monsanto's "genetically improved" Bt-generating plants.

Safety assessment of the new Bt crops was based on two strands of evidence.

Caddisfly non-science nonsense

March 2022

The industry-friendly notion that the by-products of GM crops would somehow remain harmlessly in the fields was proved wrong in 2007 when a team of American biologists went out and did some science.

GM wheat in Argentina

February 2022

In 2004, the US, Canadian and European wheat markets breathed a sigh of relief when Monsanto yielded to pressure and withdrew its glyphosate-tolerant GM wheat from the pipeline.

Predictably, it was just a matter of time before GM wheat popped up again, this time as 'HB4' with combined drought-resistance and tolerance to glufosinate herbicide.

HB4 has now been approved by Argentina: no surprise there, because the country has long been a key route used by the agrichemical industry as a bridgehead to the rest of Latin America for the (legal and illegal) dissemination of its products.

The Glyphosate Cancer Lag Phase is over

September 2021

Cancer is, without doubt, one of the most devastating of modern diseases. Treatment is limited and unpleasant, and prevention is difficult because of the biology of cancers.

Cells become cancerous when physical and/or chemical stressors disturb gene function to the point where the normal protective cell repair and rebalancing mechanisms are overwhelmed. The prevention problem arises because there isn't one single cause, but rather a whole raft of contributing factors which combine in complex ways to trigger the disease of the cell. For example, exposure to stressors at a low intensity for a long time may cause cancer just as surely as a high dose of the same stressor for a brief period. A variable lag phase, ranging from months to decades makes identifying the cause of any cancer particularly tough.

All these complications are bad news for people whose food, water, air and environment are laced with potentially carcinogenic agrichemicals. They're even worse news for the people whose job it is to spray the world with these chemicals. However, they're excellent news for agrichemical and biotech companies who don't want any evidence that their top moneyspinners may be guilty of causing cancer.

CRISPR knock-out or knock-on?

March 2020

Having fixated on the notion that the DNA sequence which forms a gene will be expressed as a specific protein, biotech scientists were then convinced that, if they disrupted a tiny part of that DNA sequence, the cell's ability to generate the protein would be lost.

Enter 'CRISPR', a molecular device which can be engineered to latch onto a very specific section of the genome and induce a small localised disruption in the DNA [1]. This provided scientists with a simple means to 'knock out' a gene. 

However, a year ago, a paper was published which reported that, while CRISPR did, indeed, knock out the planned gene, the damaged DNA could still code for a protein in 50% of the cells analysed, albeit a different one [2].

Since then, another team has taken a closer look at what was actually emerging from knocked out genes. 

Unhealthy effects of working with Bt cotton

February 2020

An anthropological field study during the years 2012-2016 surveyed what was going on down on the commercial smallholders' farms in five villages in India [1].

In the face of the limited advantages of growing GM cotton, and some serious disadvantages, plus a global glut of cotton, Bt insecticidal GM cotton still represents over 80% of the crop. The study therefore raised the question of why Indian farmers remain so devoted to biotech cotton? It seems to boil down to fashion and male pride: a GM crop shows you're modern, while an impressive stand is public proof of a good agricultural ability (even if the quality of the produce and the cost of inputs mean reduced profitability).

A small-scale field-based study undertaken in 2018 interestingly complements this earlier survey. In particular, the new study took a gender-specific perspective, aiming to reveal the roles and voices of women farmers. Interviews were carried out in an informal setting to facilitate talk and so hear unhindered stories from a sector of the Indian population not often heard.

Edible GM cottonseed

January 2020

In October 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the green light for GM cottonseed to be sold as food.

Cottonseed isn't a familiar food item. This is because cotton plants contain 'gossypol', a rather nasty toxin.

The plight of the honeybee

January 2020

"New evidence is revealing we are teetering on the edge of an era of massive extinction, propelled in large part by the very pesticides and practices used with genetically engineered crops ... In a groundbreaking new study, researchers estimate that 40 percent of insect species face extinction - and we could be looking down the barrel of total insect population collapse by century's end, primarily as the result of the agricultural pesticides and mega-monocultures of industrial agriculture. Designed specifically for intensive chemical use, genetically engineered crops are key drivers of this impact" (Lappé) .

A huge proportion of our food supply is dependent on insects for pollination. In agricultural settings, one of the most abundant pollinators is the honey bee: in fact, one estimate reckons that one in every three bites of food we eat is from a crop pollinated by honeybees; and according to the United Nations Environment Programme, of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world's food supply, 71 are pollinated by bees. Across America, commercial beekeepers are suffering astronomical hive losses averaging 40-50% annually, with some as high as 100%. This severely cripples their ability to meet pollination needs. At least one source of the disaster isn't difficult to find: honeybees are one of the non-target organisms impacted by the use of agrichemicals, and the impact is growing.

Magic molecular metaphors

December 2019

The latest blue-eyed boy of genetic engineers is the 'CRISPR' gene editing technique [1].

CRISPR is commonly described as a "molecular scalpel" suggesting an edit made with surgical precision, or as "molecular scissors" suggesting a neat, controlled snip, or even as "shears" (to clean up Nature's mess?).

Sceptics have described CRISPR as "a chainsaw in the hands of a child", a "hand grenade", and "malware" which searches out any chosen sequence in the DNA code and corrupts it.

Magic scissors operated by a sorcerer's apprentice might also be apt.

Does Glyphosate cause breast cancer?

December 2019

Does glyphosate herbicide, sprayed on most GM crops and widely present in our bodies, cause cancer?

The answer is YES, but it's not that simple.

The cost of not testing

September 2019

President Trump and his administration view environmental regulations as a hindrance to economic productivity.

One US Professor of paediatrics and expert in children's environmental health has pointed out however, that history suggests the opposite.  For example, the phasing out of toxic lead in petrol to protect children's brains, now adds "a $200 billion annual economic stimulus package" to the US.

The true cost of environmental toxins, measured in terms of loss of economic productivity due to cognitive damage, comes to a staggering $20,000 per IQ point over a lifetime.  Add to this the costs of health care and the societal burden (not to mention personal suffering to which a figure can't be attached).

Most insidious among all the environmental toxins are the endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which cause hormone dysfunction at very low levels of exposure.  Their damaging effects are often permanent and can harm future generations. 

Golden rice fast becoming colourless

August 2019

A major focus for the biofortification of food now being warmly embraced by governments in developing countries is beta-carotene, or 'pro-vitamin A' [1].

Beta-carotene is a precursor of vitamin A, an essential micronutrient whose deficiency can seriously damage vision, the immune-system, and the embryo. The assumption that putting beta-carotene into rice, a staple food which doesn't naturally produce any vitamin A precursors, will benefit the health of the poor sounds good, until you look at the devil in the detail.

Single nucleic acid editing

July 2019

The latest refinement in gene editing tools is nucleic acid editing: this alters a single pair of the many nucleic acids which make up the double strand of DNA*, and promises deft improvements in crop and livestock genomes. 

'Knocking-out' a gene creates a new one

July 2019

Long-held concerns that forcing artificial DNA changes into a crop plant will generate toxins and allergens in our food now seem more real than ever.

The latest GM trick is gene editing, a range of techniques designed to make small changes in existing genes which alter their function or destroy their function completely. Because they have homing devices which target specific sites in the genome and because the DNA alterations they induce are minimal, gene editors are considered to have little potential for unexpected side-effects. They are, therefore, promoted as precise and safer.

Heavily politically-orientated food

May 2019

Earlier this year, a story appeared in Le Monde newspaper entitled "GMO poisons? The real end of the Séralini affair". Le Monde implied that a newly published study, pithily named 'GMO90+', disproved Séralini's controversial experimental results, and showed that the alarm generated by media reports on Séralini's work was fake news.

Herbicides, GM crops and autism

May 2019

Indications of links between the world's most used, GM-friendly herbicide, glyphosate, and premature death from cancer and Parkinson's disease raise concerns about what we may be inflicting on ourselves in the longer term [1,2].

Do glyphosate-based-herbicides only make their toxic presence felt as we approach old age? What are the chances they cause us damage in the womb and in infancy too?

Many pesticides, including glyphosate, are known to have neurotoxic effects, and increasingly scientific evidence is implicating ambient pesticides as a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder.