Herbicide tolerant GM soya is insecticidal too

June 2022

Glyphosate-tolerant GM crops aren't something that usually bring insecticides to mind.  Indeed, historically, US soyabeans were only sporadically challenged by insect pests.  Things changed around 2000 with the arrival of the soybean aphid which can only be controlled by foliar spraying.  Hot on the heels of this pest invasion came dramatic increases in bean leaf beetle which prompted the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue an emergency exemption for neonicotinoid insecticidal seed treatments. 

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.

Befuddled bees

June 2018

The two most widely used pesticides in agriculture, especially on GM crops, are neonicotinoid insecticides and glyphosate-based herbicides. These have become the preferred choice due to their effectiveness as they spread systemically through the plant, and to their low toxicity in mammals.

Inevitably, traces of both are likely to be found together in the same plant where our pollinators will be exposed to them.

Indeed, analyses have shown neonicotinoid and glyphosate contamination not only in the nectar and pollen collected by honey bees but in their honey stores inside the hive. This means all bees, at all stages in their life will be exposed to both toxins.

Although neither pesticide causes instant bee death, increasing concerns are focusing on the possibility of more subtle, long-term and indirect effects on bee behaviour which will ultimately lead to the collapse of the colony [1].

RNAi fantasy

February 2018

Some 40% of pollinator species, including butterflies and bees, are facing extinction.

Climate change is, of course, taking its toll as wild animals find their life-cycles out of step with the plants they depend on. More has been made, however, of the toll exacted by neonicotinoid insecticides ('neonics').

Now, the largest ever field study of the effects of neonics on bees has, indeed, confirmed the negative impact. It also revealed the extent of contamination of wild plants. This was backed up by second study published the same day which reported that wildflowers are the bees' main source of exposure to the insecticides.

Science-free wildlife death traps

May 2017

Documents from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in early 2017 show that almost 100% of GM corn is pre-treated with neonicotinoid insecticides. In addition, although the EPA has concluded that neonicotinoid seed treatments have no economic benefit to soya growers, incomplete data indicate that over 50% of soya beans are also coated with the insecticide.

Neonicotinoids, of which there are several brands and classes on the market, are used as seed coatings. They end up throughout the mature plant, its flowers, pollen and nectar, and 95% of the coatings spread through the wider environment including soil water and dust in the air. UK trials have found that at least one neonictinoid accumulates in the soil with increasing toxicity over several years.

Across America, tens of millions of acres of land are planted with corn or soya (often year about), each producing its own fresh wave of neonicotinoids.

GM and seed coatings - the hidden insecticides

May 2017

In the short-term, 'Bt' crop growers certainly enjoy biotech industry promises: reduced labour and less expense for battling their worst insect pests [1].

Indeed, there have been several studies demonstrating a significant reduction in the amount of chemical insecticides farmers have to spray on GM crops which provide their own Bt insecticide. These findings aren't wrong. But for the consumer, they conceal some inconvenient truths.

Answer to bee die-off?

June 2015

Photo Creative Commons

Bee die-off is soaring alarmingly in America. US government figures show that honeybee mortality has risen to 42% in the past year. While hives will shrink over the winter, losses in excess of 15% are deemed unsustainable.

A whole range of factors has been blamed for the bee deaths, including virus-bearing mites, winter food insufficiency, trucking the hives around the country to rent-a-bee at sites where mass crop pollination is needed, and non-target effects of applied and systemic insecticides.

Hives which are already too small and weak at the start of the winter, simply won't survive.

Another neurotoxin to add to the mix

March 2015

The possibility that neonicotinoid-type insecticides are contributing to the decline of insect pollinators is hotly contested by the agri-industry.

However, experimental evidence has just emerged form a Scottish laboratory demonstrating serious harm to bumble bees from neonicotinoids.

When bumble bees were fed the insecticide at low levels, as found in the nectar and pollen of the plants they forage on, there were clear signs of brain dysfunction. The poisoned bees exhibited learning difficulties and disruption to their ability to forage, accompanied by a decline in healthy brood cells and decimation (57%) of the total bee mass in the nest.

Advice for advisers

March 2015

In 2013, journalist George Monbiot asked "What happens to people when they become government scientific advisers?" because somehow "they soon begin to sound less like scientists than industrial lobbyists".

Monbiot gives examples of how UK chief scientist advice on BSE, badger culling and neonicotinoids read suspiciously like a public sedation exercise: they just happen to support the position of the government, and can be timed to influence government voting procedures.

It might reasonably be expected that a chief scientist will provide an independent account of what the science shows, where its limitations lie, and what gaps in the science need to be filled before the government can implement responsible and effective policies and regulations. Fundamental to the role is, therefore, an understanding of the 'precautionary principle' defined by the Rio Convention as "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation". It's that potential for 'serious or irreversible damage' and level of 'scientific certainty' which a chief scientists needs to grasp and communicate.

Bees vs. business

June 2013

Bee on a thistle. CC photo by James Bowe on Flickr

Europe seems to have taken a first meaningful step in tackling the collapse of its bee population. A two-year, EU-wide, moratorium has been imposed on three 'neonicotinoid' insecticides used on crops visited by bees and other pollinators.

The decision came in the wake of a series of high-profile scientific studies which linked neonicotinoids to huge losses in the number of queen bees produced and big increases in 'disappeared' bees i.e. those that fail to return to the hive after foraging trips. Regulators concluded there was “a strong, substantive and scientific case for the suspension” after identifying a 'high acute' risk' to honey bees and an unknown risk to wild bees. One bee expert whose research found harmful effects from neonicotinoids warned of “... a very substantial body of scientific evidence suggesting that this class of insecticides is impacting on health of wild bees, and perhaps other wildlife too.”

Honeybees and toxic GM seeds

February 2012

Bee on clover. Photo by Guerito on Flickr

Honeybee populations have been in serious decline for years: not just a few deaths here and there, but total annihilation of entire colonies. Many possible causes have been put forward, but none has been able to explain the huge scale of the collapse.

The most rational explanation, as one insect specialist recently described it is that the modern world is subjecting bees to “death by a thousand cuts”. These cuts range from disorientation induced by mobile phone masts, to parasitic and other diseases, to chemical poisoning. Whereas the mobile phone masts are localised and stay that way, and treatments for identified pathogens can be developed, chemicals are another matter: they are ubiquitous, mobile, infinitely varied, and toxicologically interactive.

Amidst the rising concern about the extent of chemical contamination of our environment, one of the most frequently touted benefits of GM crops is that they reduce chemical pesticide use. This is good PR used to present major commodity crops such as corn into a 'green' option.

In reality, these crops only produce artificial 'Bt' insecticides against a limited number of pests. The remaining insects which attack the crops are not well controlled by Bt. To overcome this, and perpetuate the myth the Bt crops use less pesticide treatments, virtually all corn seed is now doused in 'neonicotinoids', synthetic derivatives of nicotine which kill insects by attacking the nervous system.

Bt in insects

April 2011

Many of these are our pollinators

Bees

Recent years have seen waves of massive bee decline around the globe. Some of these can be traced to infection or infestation, but others are a complete mystery. However, the finger is being increasingly pointed at agri-pesticides in and on the flowering crops from which the bees gather their food.