Sunday, July 17, 2011

Monarchs & GM Corn


Everthing has a cost. Slight or huge, every endeavor, whether it be man made or by nature, the energy conversion used in doing the activity extracts a cost. In terms of Genetically Modified corn, the good side is the fact the product effectively deals with the corn borer, a hard to kill pest that limits crop yields. On the bad, the pollen created inadverteltly kills Monarch caterpillars when the caterpillar accidentally ingests it while feeding on the Milkweed plant, the only source of food for the caterpillar. I show the video as the Monarch depicted is exquisite and persistent, qualities yours truly finds enchanting to say the least.


The link seen above goes to a pdf detailing the original 1999 Cornell study descussing this important issue along with subsequent findings. The impact, as of right now, is relatively small but the the larger issue of gm crops is not. It's a good paper, balanced and detailed. Worth reading without a doubt.

Blowback or The law of unforeseen consequences, in the mind of this author,  applies on every initiative on which the full effect of same cannot be predicted.

Addendum: The corn borer beetle is now starting to munch on Monsanto's cash cow, something that relates to blowback without question.

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