Are bees and autisim linked?

Well duh, both are exposed to GMOs.

How does this relate to vanishing bees and our food supply? Two new studies, published simultaneously in the journal Science, show that the rapid rise in use of insecticides is likely responsible for the mass disappearance of bee populations.
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Where are insecticides going? Oh right, in GMO crops.
 
Interesting theory, although the author seems to jump the gun at the end. Clearly it shows that pesticides are a plausible explanation for both autism and dead bees, but doesn't really prove anything.
 
Glaucus said:
Interesting theory, although the author seems to jump the gun at the end. Clearly it shows that pesticides are a plausible explanation for both autism and dead bees, but doesn't really prove anything.
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If the author gets too close to the truth, he will end up dead on a sidewalk at 1AM in the morning from "natural causes".
 
redrumloa said:
Well duh, both are exposed to GMOs.



Where are insecticides going? Oh right, in GMO crops.
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Actually Red, GMO crops designed to be naturally insect resistant would need less insecticides. Roundup is used on GMO crops to keep them weed free, which the article does mention, but that's not an insecticide. So the impact of GMOs are probably not as much as you'd think and may in fact lead to a solution.
 
Glaucus said:
Actually Red, GMO crops designed to be naturally insect resistant would need less insecticides.
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GMOs that produce their own insecticide require less insecticide to be sprayed on them but it means that every part of the plant is toxic, not just a thin layer on the outside.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
GMOs that produce their own insecticide require less insecticide to be sprayed on them but it means that every part of the plant is toxic, not just a thin layer on the outside.
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sounds delicious!!
 
Glaucus said:
Roundup is used on GMO crops to keep them weed free, which the article does mention, but that's not an insecticide.
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Roundup is a herbicide

the Cry3Bb1 Bt gene in corn and cotton are the insecticide GMO crops

the Bt corn is resistant to the European corn borer, the Bt is expressed in the above-ground corn tissues, (stalk and leaves) on which corn borers feed, but is not resistant the the Western corn rootworm, which feeds on the roots were the gene is not expressed. So now research is underway to increase the amount of Bt in the roots.

Currently fungicide is applied to the seed to control rootworms

The Bt crops are not bee polinated
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
GMOs that produce their own insecticide require less insecticide to be sprayed on them but it means that every part of the plant is toxic, not just a thin layer on the outside.
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That's just an assumption. Fact is many plants have developed natural defenses from incests. It could be something as simple and benign as inserting a peppermint gene into wheat: GM wheat that wards off aphids trialled in UK

A peppermint gene has been used to engineer a wheat strain that sends out chemical messages to scare off aphid pests.

In future, it may be possible to cut the use of pesticides on plants modified with the gene.
The genetic modification harnesses one of the plant world's own defence mechanisms, the ability to ward off pests with pheromone odour signals.

Peppermint produces a smell, undetectable to humans, which mimics an alarm signal generated by aphids when they are attacked by predators.
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This isn't even toxic to bugs, it just fools them and makes them run away.

Putting aside your knee-jerk reaction, what's your thoughts on this type of GMO crop?
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
GMOs that produce their own insecticide require less insecticide to be sprayed on them but it means that every part of the plant is toxic, not just a thin layer on the outside.
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every part of the plant is not toxic to bugs, only where the Bt gene are expressed (currently stalk and leaves), hence the current work to have the Bt gene expressed in the roots to protect from the western corn rootworm
 
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