Dear All:

I have not followed this list for several months now, but I see that Julie Newman, the NonGMFarmer, still has not read beyond the anti-GM disinformation campaign,

The insecticide applied to kill non-Lepidopterous pests on cotton has been reduced in many areas of the world because fewer insecticides are being applied that kill the natural enemies of pests like aphids and spider mites. Go visit Narrabri during the summer and learn. We use IPM and try not to control pests with other sprays.

Even if you wanted to count a protein like Bt as just another chemical, the amount of Bt in the plants is about the same as a single Bt spray, and weighs less than many chemical sprays. A cotton plant weighs on the order of a kg, and the average Cry1A expression is about 1 ppm. A plant only expresses a few mg of Cry1Ab. With 30,000-100,000 plants per ha, this about 100 g Cry1A/ha, about a single Bt spray.

Ht crops can reduce herbicide applications, but more importantly they replace more toxic herbicides, like your atrazine, with less toxic and less persistent materials.

Cattaneo et al clearly show that even in Arizona, where Bt cotton is only of modest benefit compared to Mississippi or Qld, Bt cotton increases yields without the need to slosh on chemicals. That’s what true Greenies like me want. If you don’t believe go look to the data from Australian cotton or ask for a tour in Narrabri. Why haven’t you anti-GM zealots made headway in the cotton region? Because they laugh you off the farm when you try to tell them that GM cotton provides no benefits. There must be something to induce a lot of smart farmers to adopt Bt on 80% plus of the region.

Dear “Is it really safe” and Julie”:

Bt corn does in fact increase yields although it varies from year to year depending on insect attack. The yield benefits are real.

Two years is long enough, and cannot be affected by crossing (your cross-contamination). If you think otherwise, tell us how. Corn is planted from hybrid seed every year,

Agronomist knows his agronomy. Insects are not a big problem throughout the corn belt, but are more severe in places like Nebraska and North Carolina, where Bt corn adoption is highest.
Time to get out of your shell and face the facts.

By the way, how much longer can you hold back the tide on canola with more and more farmer groups coming out in favour of ending the moratoria?

The main thing that I am concerned about is the safety of GM. With the Spanish report you have not said how many years this experiment was. My guess is it is a lot less than a decent experiment that would show the contamination spread, say 10 years.

Where is this report by the way? Is it being held tightly to the bossum of the GM'ers because there may be more in it than they want to be said? Are they just getting sections out of it that they want to use? Is the 7.5% increase just one year out of a few that may have been decreases?

I really don't care how many people have been conned by the GM industry to decide to plant GM. All the more fool them if it is found to be a biohazard. How would they cope then? Consumers would not buy something that is hazardous to their health and they are the end product.

Here is some more news that shows the water use efficiency of GM Crops.

Insect-resistant cotton also water efficient

Preliminary results from CSIRO research in Narrabri have shown that
genetically modified insect-resistant cotton may also be more water
efficient.

Two years of field experiments by CSIRO Plant Industry's Mr Dirk Richards
and Mr Stephen Yeates, show that under normal full irrigation, Bollgard®
II cotton used ten per cent less water than an equivalent conventional
variety and had higher yields.

Bollgard® II makes up most of the Australian cotton crop and has reduced
pesticide use by up to 80 per cent.

Research is now optimising agronomic management of Bollgard® II as it
tends to produce bolls earlier than conventional cotton because insect
damage does not delay early crop growth.

Bollgard® II and conventional cotton extract soil water at a similar rate,
but Bollgard® II has a more compact growing season so uses less water
overall for the same or higher yields.
Bollgard® II had lower yields only when it was moisture stressed from peak
flowering to the end of flowering when boll filling started.

Soil moisture stress applied to conventional cotton at the same time did
not affect yield as much, due to later flowering and a better ability to
compensate later in the season.

This research is helping growers fine tune their water management
strategies for Bollgard® II.

This research is supported by the Cotton Research and Development
Corporation and the Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative Research
Centre.

www.pi.csiro.au/enewsletter/previousEditions/015story1.htm

Yet another GM success story from:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/015200610151232.htm

THE HINDU

Area under Bt cotton Bollgard variety cultivation trebles

15 Oct 2006

Mumbai - The area under cultivation of Bt Cotton Bollgard variety in India has almost trebled to 8.6 million acres this year from 3.1 million acres in 2005, a growth that also helped multiply farmers' income too.

Farmers' income increased to Rs 7,026.5 crores up from Rs 2,100 crores last year as a result of the acreage going up, Bipin Solanki, Deputy Managing Director of Mahyco Monsanto Bollgard (MMB), which markets the hybrid seeds in India, said.

"The BT cotton technology has helped the year-on-year growth to increase by three times, thereby increasing the total yield by 400 kg to a farmer and has covered 8.6 million acres under cultivation this year. This in real terms has increased the per acre income by Rs 6,700 and generated an additional rural income of Rs 7,000 crore for farmers," said Solanki.

This year, around 2.1 million farmers have used Bollgard and Bollgard II hybrids, as it is technically called, out of which one million farmers have used this technology for the first time throughout the country. Last year, the total production was 775 kg which has gone up to 2,150 kg this year, he added.

"This technology helps the yield to resist the insect attack as it destroys the bollworms and as a result there is an increase in the yield," the company official said when asked about the debate on this technology.

Out of the one billion area under Bt Cotton cultivation the world over, 22 million acres are in India of which 14 million acres are under hybrid cultivation. Of this, 8.6 million acres are under Bollgard cultivation.

Good grief Agronomist. Is that the best you can do. Quoting from the Deputy Managing Director of Mahyco Monsanto Bollarg (MMB) which markets the hybrid seeds in India.

I don't really care what this person says as he is the marketing manager of the company selling the seed. Got any proof that is independent?

You still will not give me proof of the safety of GM from independent and I mean independent scientists. Give me the full reports of 3 generations of major organs of rats that have been force fed GM on an easy to ready table and then I will take notice. I refuse to listen to a marketing manager that is selling a product saying how wonderful it is. No proof of scientific evidence is there?