Is it possible to have your cake and eat it too when it comes to BT cotton?By: Razan Alhaj, Jaycee Nguyen, Sarah Ronquillo and Sharissa SorianoMarch 24, 2014Around the World – As Many May We Know BT cotton is a cotton plant that has been genetically modified to produce a toxin known as BT (Bacillus thuringiensis), hence the name BT Cotton. Cotton is normally grown within the plant's small green shoots, known as bolls, and once mature, the shoots bloom to reveal the cotton fibres, but many growers struggle to protect their cotton from invading insects such as worms . The bollworm is an insect that hides in the boll of the cotton plant as a form of shelter and nutrients. This modification prevents insect invasion because the cotton plant can now produce the toxin within itself, so once the worm tries to burrow into the boll it will be exposed to the toxin, resulting in death. The good: Growing genetically modified cotton has become very popular in places like India, China, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Mexico, Colombia, and even the United States. Many BT cotton growers agree on the positive benefits, such as increased cotton fiber yields during each harvest due to the absence of pest infestations. Research conducted in China in 2004 can also agree, because due to the increase in the production of BT cotton there has been an associated decrease in the use of pesticides, which is directly related to a sharp decrease in the number of hospital admissions and deaths of cotton farmers due to pesticide poisoning. . More recent research, conducted in China in 2012, documented what they called the “halo effect,” or a positive side effect of BT Cotton, meaning the effect it had on pink worms in non-genetically modified cotton. Stud...... middle of sheet......):1222-35. doi: 10.1111/eva.12099. Epub 2013 September 17, 2014 March 21. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24478804.NA Genetically modified cotton crops. GMO Compass. 2008 December 4, 2014 March 21. Retrieved from http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/grocery_shopping/crops/161.genetically_modified_cotton.html.Schnepf E1, Crickmore N, Van Rie J, Lereclus D, Baum J, Feitelson J, Zeigler DR, Dean DH . Bacillus thuringiensis and its pesticidal crystalline proteins. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 1998 Sep;62(3):775-806. March 21, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9729609.Wan P, Huang Y, Tabashnik BE, Huang M, Wu K. The halo effect: suppression of the pink worm on non-Bt Cotton from Bt Cotton in China. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e42004. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042004. Epub 2012 July 27. 2014 March 21. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22848685.
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