BT is Safe!
There, I said it first. Sure, Bacillus Thuringiensis is safe and effective when sprayed on even organic crops. The problem comes from inserting genes into embryos (seed) to cause the plant to produce it's own crystal protein toxins. While Corn is safe to eat, BT Corn is no longer Corn. It is an untested genetic experiment unleashed on an unsuspecting public - and it is proving to be bad.
Now, don't think I'm picking on corn. BT modification was first done on Potatoes. Peanuts also have been BT modified. And don't think that I'm picking on BT modification - any direct genetic manipulation that introduces a foreign gene into a food crop is ... simply wrong. Especially if it is not tested properly, which none of them have been.
Any product that the manufacturer fights against testing or labelling, should raise alarm bells for anyone of sound mind. Scientists are attacked for revealing any study that proves GMOs to be dangerous.
The process of gene splicing is just plain reckless. Basically, they break open a cell of the organism that has the desired trait, break it's genes apart and hope they suck up the right piece with a needle. Then they inject the genes into a developing seed or egg of the target organism - hoping that it will incorporate the desired gene into it's own genes. What other genes they are creating, they don't care. Antibiotic resistance, increased toxicity, decreased nutritional availability, increased allergens are all concerning possibilities.
Some claim that the GMO products will reduce the use of pesticide, which may be true. The insects eat the plant and the toxins paralyse their digestive system causing them to not eat and therefore starve to death. Those same toxins are found in the blood of people who consume GMO products - and their unborn babies.
But for Roundup-Ready varieties, they increase the use of herbicide. Farmers increase the use of Roundup and when the weeds become resistant, they up it again. Yet it still fails to increase the crop's yields.
So, while spraying live BT bacteria on crop plants - which can later be washed off - may be safe, creating a plant that produces the insecticide of that BT by itself - which can never be washed off - is not in any way the same thing and, by far, not at all safe.
There, I said it first. Sure, Bacillus Thuringiensis is safe and effective when sprayed on even organic crops. The problem comes from inserting genes into embryos (seed) to cause the plant to produce it's own crystal protein toxins. While Corn is safe to eat, BT Corn is no longer Corn. It is an untested genetic experiment unleashed on an unsuspecting public - and it is proving to be bad.
Now, don't think I'm picking on corn. BT modification was first done on Potatoes. Peanuts also have been BT modified. And don't think that I'm picking on BT modification - any direct genetic manipulation that introduces a foreign gene into a food crop is ... simply wrong. Especially if it is not tested properly, which none of them have been.
Any product that the manufacturer fights against testing or labelling, should raise alarm bells for anyone of sound mind. Scientists are attacked for revealing any study that proves GMOs to be dangerous.
The process of gene splicing is just plain reckless. Basically, they break open a cell of the organism that has the desired trait, break it's genes apart and hope they suck up the right piece with a needle. Then they inject the genes into a developing seed or egg of the target organism - hoping that it will incorporate the desired gene into it's own genes. What other genes they are creating, they don't care. Antibiotic resistance, increased toxicity, decreased nutritional availability, increased allergens are all concerning possibilities.
Some claim that the GMO products will reduce the use of pesticide, which may be true. The insects eat the plant and the toxins paralyse their digestive system causing them to not eat and therefore starve to death. Those same toxins are found in the blood of people who consume GMO products - and their unborn babies.
But for Roundup-Ready varieties, they increase the use of herbicide. Farmers increase the use of Roundup and when the weeds become resistant, they up it again. Yet it still fails to increase the crop's yields.
So, while spraying live BT bacteria on crop plants - which can later be washed off - may be safe, creating a plant that produces the insecticide of that BT by itself - which can never be washed off - is not in any way the same thing and, by far, not at all safe.
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