Word: bt
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...environmentalists and consumer-advocacy groups were the first to launch major protests that have since spread worldwide. Environmentalists in India have filed suit against Monsanto to prevent it from testing genetically modified cotton. In the Philippines, farmers have demonstrated against seed giants Monsanto and Dupont's field tests of Bt corn. And activists there point to Miracle Rice?a product of the Green Revolution in the '60s?as a cautionary lesson. Its wholesale adoption in Southeast Asia led to a rice monoculture, making crops more vulnerable to insect pests and disease, and more dependent on pesticides...
...instructions for making proteins and some proteins?those in peanuts, for example?cause allergic reactions. Then there is the problem of "genetic pollution," as opponents of biotechnology term it. Pollen grains from such wind-pollinated plants as corn, for instance, are carried far and wide. The continuing flap over Bt corn and cotton?the gene of a common soil bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis), a natural insecticide, is transferred to the plants?has provided more fodder for the debate. Ecologists are concerned that widespread planting of these crops will spur Bt resistance among crop pests, and Bt is popular with organic farmers...
...Even more worrisome are ecological concerns. In 1999 Cornell University entomologist John Losey performed a provocative, "seat-of-the-pants" laboratory experiment. He dusted Bt corn pollen on plants populated by monarch-butterfly caterpillars. Many of the caterpillars died. Losey himself is not yet convinced that Bt corn poses a grave danger to North America's monarch-butterfly population, but he does think the issue deserves attention. Others agree. "The problem with transgenics is the risks and hazards involved," says Ashish Kothari of Kalpavriskh, an Indian environmental group working to preserve the country's biodiversity. "We still don't know...
...artists are women, and from Dido's fabulous "Here With Me" to "Need to Be Next to You" by Leigh Nash from Sixpence None the Richer, the music is mostly suitable for the pop section of Lilith Fair. The only track that deviates far enough from the norm is BT's "Never Gonna Come Back Down," which was also featured on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. This fast-paced Crystal Method-esque track stands in stark contrast to the languorous vocals of the other songs. Nevertheless, a few stand out: the aforementioned Dido, Beth Orton's "Central Reservation" and Morcheeba...
...that is beginning to happen, although--contrary to expectations--the reports coming in are not necessarily that scary. For three years now, University of Arizona entomologist Bruce Tabashnik has been monitoring fields of Bt cotton that farmers have planted in his state. And in this instance at least, he says, "the environmental risks seem minimal, and the benefits seem great." First of all, cotton is self-pollinated rather than wind-pollinated, so that the spread of the Bt gene is of less concern. And because the Bt gene is so effective, he notes, Arizona farmers have reduced their...