Does Bt pollen spread?

Brian Sandle bsandle at southern.co.nz
Thu May 27 11:44:38 EDT 1999


Paul Cherubini <paulcher at concentric.net> wrote:
: SueJensen wrote:

:> Excuse me??  'Round-up Ready' soy and rapeseed don't sound to me like
:> products designed to reduce conventional pesticide use.

: You're right, Roudup herbicide use within the corn (and other) crops is
: likely to go up.
: But Roundup herbicide is not a bug killer and does not poison the soil
: or water.

   Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 1996 Feb;56(2):295-302
   
Biochemical and histopathological effects of glyphosate on carp, Cyprinus
carpio L.
[...]
Literature of toxicological and ecotoxicological properties
   of glyphosate is extremely sparse, considering its importance as
   herbicide.
[...]
 

   J Environ Sci Health B 1995 Jul;30(4):513-34
   
Toxic effects of carbofuran and glyphosate on semen characteristics in 
rabbits.
[...]
These effects on sperm
   quality may be due to the direct cytotoxic effects of these pesticides
   on spermatogenesis and/or indirectly via hypothalami-pituitary-testis
   axis which control the reproductive efficiency.
[...]

:> If you work in this area, Paul, why don't you go for a career change? 

: Well I may have to because these genetically modified crops will result
: in big reductions in the use of conventional insecticides I sell.

Or else as resistance builds you may end up selling a whole lot more.

 Maybe
: God might spare me a few hundred years in hell if I changed careers and
: did something good for bugs instead of killing them. Like raise
: butterflies for a living. But wait!  How many people on this list think
: its OK to raise and release common butterflies like monarchs and painted
: ladies for a living?

: Maybe if I just went and got a decent government job, wrote butterfly
: books, became an environmental defense lawyer or went around begging for
: grants to make a living I would somehow be environmentally "pure" in
: everyones eyes?

Eco tourism has been a rising industry.

I hear you in a few years going around with tail between legs telling
people that if only we had stuck to conventional pesticides used in the
proper way that.... 


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