STOP PRESS
----- Forwarded Message ----
Subject: GM Crops Facing Meltdown in the USA
========================================================
ISIS Press Release 01/02/10
GM Crops Facing Meltdown in the USA
**********************************
**********************************
Major crops genetically modified for just two traits -
herbicide tolerance and insect resistance– are ravaged by
super weeds and secondary pests in the heartland of GMOs as
farmers fight a losing battlewith more of the same; a
fundamental shift to organic farming practices may be the
only salvation Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
Please circulate widely, keeping all links unchanged, and
submit to your government representatives demanding an end
to GM crops and support for non-GM organic agriculture
Two traits account for practically all the genetically modified (GM) crops
grown in the world today: herbicide-tolerance (HT) due to
glyphosate-insensitive form of the gene coding for the enzyme targeted by the
herbicide,5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), derived from
soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and insect-resistance due to one or
more toxin genes derived from the
soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). Commercial planting began around
1997 in the United States, the
heartland of GM crops, and increased rapidly over the years.
By now, GM crops have taken over 85-91 percent of the area planted with the
three major crops, soybean, corn and cotton in the US [1]] (see Table 1), which
occupy nearly 171 million acres.
Table 1. GM crops grown in 2009 in the USA
The ecological time-bomb that came with the GM crops has been ticking away, and
is about to explode.
HT crops encouraged the use of herbicides, resulting in herbicide-resistant
weeds that demand yet more herbicides.
But the increasing use of deadly herbicide and herbicide mixtures has failed to
stall the advance of the palmer super weed in HT crops. At the same time,
secondary pests such as the tarnished plant bug, against which Bt toxin is
powerless, became the single most damaging insect for US cotton.
Monster plants that can’t be killed
It is the Day of the Triffids - not the genetically modified plants themselves
as alluded to in John Wyndham’s novel -but “super weeds that can’t be killed”
[2], created by the planting of genetically modified HT crops, as seen on ABC
TV news.
The scene is set at harvest time in Arkansas October 2009. Grim-faced farmers
and scientists speak from fields infested with giant pigweed plants that can
withstand as much glyphosate herbicide as you can afford to douse on them. One
farmer spent US$0.5 million in three months trying to clear the monster weeds
in vain; they stop combine harvesters and break hand tools. Already, an
estimated one million acres of soybean and cotton crops in Arkansas have become
infested.
Thepalmer amaranth or palmer pigweed is the most dreaded weed. It can grow 7-8
feet tall, withstand withering heat and prolonged droughts, produce thousands
of seeds and has a root system that drains nutrients away from crops. If left
unchecked, it would take over a field in a year.
Meanwhile in North Carolina Perquimans County, farmer and extension worker Paul
Smith has just found the offending weed in his field [3], and he too, will have
to hire a migrant crew to remove the weed by hand.
The resistant weed is expected to move into neighbouring counties. It has
already developed resistance to at least three other types of herbicides.
Herbicide-resistance in weeds is nothing new. Ten weed species in North
Carolina and 189 weed species nationally have developed resistance to some
herbicide.
A new herbicide is unlikely to come out, said Alan York, retired professor of
agriculture from North Carolina State University and national weed expert
jangan biarkan ahli pertanian dan ekonom keblinger makin membunuh TANAH AIR
(DewiSri, NyiPohaci, IbuPertiwi)
Read the rest of this article ...
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
