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How Biotech and Gene Modification is good for the environment
by matte | May 4, 2008 at 12:08 am | 199 views | 2 comments
This is a little old now, but clearly demonstrates that genetic engineering is good for the environment. It's now just used in plants, but on them as well. Biotechnology = less chemicals
Australia is leading the world in the move away from conventional chemical insecticides to using "soft options" as an effective management of many insect pests in broadacre crops.
Dr Carrie Hauxwell, of the Department of Primary Industries said the success of the viral biopesticide "Gemstar" has led to increased interest in a new generation of biopesticides to add to the range of options available to producers help manage insect pests.
One of these are fungi-based insecticides.
"Fungi are now emerging as a potential addition to the successful "soft" control methods currently based on viruses and bacteria," Dr Hauxwell said.
"These insect pathogens, while devastating to the target insect populations, have little if any effect on other organisms, including insect predators and parasites that can naturally keep insect pests under control.
"These new biopesticides are sourced from fungi that naturally occur in the target insects, but often only reach significant levels late in the season – too late to prevent pest damage."
Using spray-based applications, Dr Hauxwell said they could kill significant numbers of insect pests over several days and spread from the dead insects to live ones, further increasing their effectiveness.
"A significant advantage is that the fungal biopesticides can be produced through a fermentation process that should keep costs down and improve supply. "
Dr Hauxwell said that unlike viral pesticides, which must be eaten, those based on fungi have the advantage of infecting the target insect when it touched treated leaves.
"The development of fungi-based biopesticides is challenging, and product quality and performance are critical," she said.
"With the support of GRDC, the Agency's Biopesticides Unit has been identifying and testing different fungi for use against Heliothis in glasshouse trials, and in establishing a production process and a stable formulation.
"This season we have field-tested the most promising fungus, which is specific to heliothis, loopers and armyworms.
"It is still early in development, but these initial field results look promising and suggest that the fungal biopesticide can perform well in the paddock."
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May 4, 2008 at 12:08 am by matte, 199 views, 2 comments
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Comments (2)
at 06:11 on May 4th, 2008
for me... I always think about Biotech as a douple edged weapon. It can really benefit humanity and can also cause a lot of harm at the same time if there is a misuse of it.
at 19:51 on May 4th, 2008
"if there is a misuse for it."
There are far more beneficial uses - its just the naysayers don't bother to read facts or look at the benefits it offers them.
From CNN
GM rice proponents: Higher nutrition, environmentally friendly
With GM rice, these problems are confronted, if not solved, its proponents say, as different strains of rice can be bred to withstand attack from pests, diseases and hostile environments. Not only that, they say, but GM rice can be bred to offer much higher nutritional values than regular rice can, supposedly combating the issues of malnutrition that are now endemic in the developing world. (According to the Golden Rice Network, around 1 billion pregnant women in Asia are Iron-deficient; 2 billion more lack Zinc; while 250 million children are Vitamin A deficient.)
As a result, the Philippine Rice Research Institute and Strive Foundation have developed a GM rice strain they are calling "3-in-1" rice that is packed with Vitamin A, Iron and Zinc, according to the Philippines Information Agency.
And Golden Rice, developed by Syngenta, is said to be loaded with so much beta-carotene that it can combat the issues of Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) to the point that some say it can even prevent blindness.
The original Golden Rice was launched onto the world stage in 2000 by Syngenta, and it has recently been improved to the extent that "Golden Rice 2" now contains 23 times as much beta carotene as the original. Scientists testing the strain say a serving of 200 grams should provide the recommended daily Vitamin A intake; challenging critics such as Friends of the Earth who previously said its claim of beating VAD were erroneous.
GM proponents are now even claiming that GM crops are more environmentally friendly than traditional crops. A study by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) claims that the effect of farmers in the U.S., Canada and Argentina in 2005 growing weed killer-resistant crops was the equivalent to taking 4 million cars off the road and preventing 9 billion kilograms (19.8 billion pounds) of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. The reason: Farmers planting these crops didn't need to plough the fields to destroy weeds, which meant the organic matter didn't get exposed to the atmosphere, releasing greenhouse gases in the process, according to the New Scientist.