Seed Today - Q1 2008 - (Page 71)

“It is unfortunate that so little attention was paid to the financial significance of the findings with obvious implications for public health.” Department of Biology, University of Milan engineered Bt varieties. At the same time, an average of 29 of these pests were found on each stalk of the conventional varieties—with more than one-third of them in the cobs. It is unfortunate that so little attention was paid to the financial significance of the findings. It is another matter entirely to cover up data with obvious implications for public health. It is up to the government to explain why the data on these toxins were kept under wraps. It is unquestionable that (the data generated) belongs to the Italian public, and its relevance to human and animal health is unequivocal. The data should be submitted as quickly as possible for publication in a reputable journal, so that the scientific community is informed. It is immediately crucial, however, that they be made widely available so that consumers and farmers can clearly understand the financial and medical issues at stake. nal and the report page has been moved to secondary pages on the INRAN server. Public Health and Fumoisins Other data from those field trials, however, have until now been kept completely hidden. From the perspective of public health, they are far more important. The field trials in question were actually designed to determine if GM crops could be useful to Italian agriculture or pose dangers to consumers. The outcome confirms that corn enhanced to resist insect pests can not only be more profitable for farmers but it also has a positive effect on the quality of grain, having a reduced fumonisin content. Fumoisins are toxins produced by fungi which can infect a growing corn plant. These toxins are dangerous to humans and animals; in humans there is evidence that they cause spinabifida, a highly disabling developmental defect occurring during early stages of pregnancy. Affected children usually cannot walk and they suffer kidney and urinary problems. Often, this is accompanied by brain damage. In horses and pigs, fumonisin cause other kind of illnesses. The fungi infect a growing corn plant by entering the plant through a wound. Since European corn borers inflict significant wounds on growing corn plants they leave these plants open to infection. During the field trials in Lombardi, no corn borer larvae were found on the Response No. 711 First Quarter 2008 71 http://www.speedkinginc.com http://www.speedkinginc.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Seed Today - Q1 2008

Seed Today - Q1 2008 Contents Editor’s Notes Cover Feature: Agrecol® Corporation Reed Barker, Ph.D. Cal/West Seeds Inc. Annual GM Use Report Bt Resistance Reported Camelina Tony Harper Gayle Jacklin According to ASTA Krauter Structures AOSCA AOSA/SCST GM and Greenhouse Gas Seed Associations Ad Index

Seed Today - Q1 2008

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