Wednesday, September 29, 2010

GM maize 'has polluted rivers across the United States'

by Steve Connor from The Independent
The insecticide is the product of a bacterial gene inserted into GM maize and other cereal crops to protect them against insects such as the European corn borer beetle. Scientists have detected the insecticide in a significant number of streams draining the great corn belt of the American mid-West.

The researchers detected the bacterial protein in the plant detritus that was washed off the corn fields into streams up to 500 metres away. They are not yet able to determine how significant this is in terms of the risk to either human health or the wider environment.
I have little doubt that any studies designed to determine the risks associated with GM maize will be effectively opposed by the GM food industry.