Comments on: GMO-Crops Don’t Live Up To The Hype With Regards To Pest Control, Research Shows

By: Tont Davies

Tont Davies — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 03:05:00 +0000

Tabashnik has worked on Bt resistance for many years before he started his work he believed in cross resistance which made sense that it would be resent as before GM crops Bts were used in the organic industry and they knew that insects could become resistant. His data fails to detract from the fact that the products work. yes insects become resistant (speed depends on the insects and crop) but seed cos are replacing with better

By: Tont Davies

Tont Davies — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 03:02:00 +0000

See my other comments about reality versus this nonsense. There is also no revolving door. If someone has evidence that a person is government is on the take from industry they need to act like an adult and tell all. The only person mentioned – and mentioned for the last 15 years or so has been Michael Taylor who used to work for Monsanto – took a pay cut and has worked constantly for the FDA for many years now. he works his butt off and the idiot like the author suggest some corruption. The real corruption is in articles like this.

Most come from the organic industry determined to try to convince people to pay more for organic food and yet can’t get the evidence their products actually do any better

By: Tont Davies

Tont Davies — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 02:59:00 +0000

In reply to Jeff Leonard.

correct – once again the anti-Gm activists – usually people with no science training take fact and twist it. There are Bts that are similar an insect resting to one is resistant to both but the best combinations (that are developed or being developed) are very different and hence no cross-resistance.

even if you use no Bts and try something seemingly perfect – like rotating corn with soy to stop corn root worms — eventually the insects adapted and the system stopped working.

The seed companies are working to have remittances that last for many years so quite worrying. The Bt crops reduce chemical insecticide by massive amounts. Truth is not hype. If they did;y work farmers wouldn’t buy them year after year

By: JohnL

JohnL — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 18:05:00 +0000

In reply to Jeff Leonard. Anti-GMO activists do like to misrepresent the facts. They have to, otherwise they have nothing to work with. I think James is deliberately "missing the point."

By: Jeff Leonard

Jeff Leonard — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 19:49:00 +0000

James, I believe you are missing the point of the Carriere Nature Biotechnology paper. The authors do some excellent work to explain a mechanism of resistance based on similarity of important amino acids between different BT proteins. In the final paragraph of the paper the authors state “The findings reported in this Analysis provide specific, quantitative descriptions of the association between toxin similarity in domains II and III and key factors affecting resistance evolution, which could be used to improve choices of toxins for enhancing pyramid durability. We hope that these results will be useful to both modelers and plant breeders for optimizing pyramids for sustainable pest management”.

They are providing data and a model that can be used to make better choices about the appropriate BT proteins to pyramid as well as to design the mandated refuge plans required to maximize the longevity of the engineered resistance. Rather than condemning the use of engineering BT protein-derived resistance, they are pointing the direction to use it more effectively.