What a new study says about GMO corn. That’s the subject of today’s This Land of Ours.
The largest, highest quality analysis of data ever conducted on the subject shows that genetically modified Bt corn has little impact on nontarget insects and other organisms, especially compared to growing conventional corn. This study was published this week in Environmental Evidence by a USDA Agricultural Research Service scientist and his Swiss colleagues. Bt corn is corn that has been genetically modified so that it produces certain proteins to control corn borers, corn rootworms and other major pests of corn. The first Bt corn was approved in 1996. Since then, critics have suggested that it also can destroy beneficial insects or other non-targeted organisms, however, hundreds of individual studies have proven that’s not the case. The researchers even examined if authorship or financial support by biotechnology companies affected the outcome of individual studies, and found that most of the results came from the private sector.
To read more about the study, click here.
Listen to Sabrina Halvorson’s This Land of Ours program here.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.