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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/17/2003 7:26:37 AM PST by ZGuy
One of the first experiments to test the impact of genetically modified crops on the environment has found that insects and farmland birds can flourish in GM fields that under conventional farming would be wildlife deserts.
Scientists monitoring plots of GM sugar beet have recorded a significant increase in spiders, beetles and other insects that provide important food for the nestlings of skylarks, lapwings and partridges.
They claim in a study published today in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B that GM crops engineered to be resistant to broad-spectrum herbicides could be better for wildlife than conventional crops doused with less powerful weedkillers.
The study was run by the Broom's Barn research station in Suffolk, Britain's national centre for sugar beet research, and was part-funded by Monsanto, the American agrochemicals company and principal supplier of GM technology.
Alan Dewar, an entomologist at Broom's Barn, said the study was vetted by independent scientists and that Monsanto had no role in determining the way the data was collected or how the findings were published.
Although the GM sugar beet plots were relatively small – about 144 sq metres (1,550 sq ft) – the the findings were broadly applicable to other crops grown on a much bigger scale, Dr Dewar said.
"I've spent 19 years crawling around sugar beet fields and I have never in all that time seen a skylark's nest. I saw my first one in one of the GM plots," he said. "I didn't expect these things to happen but they did and I was quite pleased."
Conventional sugar beet seedlings have to be sprayed with herbicides within a few days of germination if they are not so be suffocated by invading weeds. This means fields are sprayed several times and are virtually devoid of weeds.
There are few insects and spiders for birds to feed on and little cover for ground-nesting species such as skylarks.
But the scientists showed that weeds could be allowed to grow between the rows of GM sugar beet seedlings provided a limited spraying with a broad-spectrum weedkiller was applied directly to prevent early suffocation of the seedlings.
Later in the summer, after the first clutch of nestlings fledged, the weeds between the rows could be sprayed, leaving a decaying mulch where some insects continued to live, Dr Dewar said.
John Pidgeon, the director of Broom's Barn, said non-GM crops needed frequent spraying with conventional herbicides to destroy the weeds on which insects and birds depended.
"Our system means we can reduce the amount of spraying and allow weeds between the rows to flourish in summer without affecting yield.
"Our method could easily be applied to other row crops," Dr Pidgeon said.
"We are excited about our results because this is the first time research has shown that GM herbicide-tolerant crops can be managed for environmental benefit," he said.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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These are of course the same people, by and large, who demand immediate embryonic stem-cell research. They don't mind Frankenpeople.
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