Agent Orange chemical in GM war on resistant weeds

Agent Orange chemical in GM war on resistant weeds

www.bbc.co.uk

Dow Agrosciences says its new GM product will use a chemical that was once a component of the Vietnam war defoliant, Agent Orange.

It is needed they say because so called "superweeds" are now affecting up to 15 million acres of American crops.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Very interesting article discussing the mess that some types of genetically modified crops have caused. Back in the '90's, Monsanto, maker of the glyphosate-based herbicide, Round-Up, created GM versions of crops that were glyphosate-resistant. Round-Up Ready™ corn and soybeans were a boon to farmers, but the over-use of glyphosate also spawned several naturally-mutated Round-Up Ready™ weed species.

Now Dow Chemical is preparing for round #2 of this battle, but am I the only one who sees parallels between this and Whack-A-Mole?

Perhaps the answer here is to step back from our human need to *fully win* every battle. Dynamic systems abhor being held at an extreme and forcing them into that position requires constant upkeep -- miss a beat, and it suddenly and the pendulum swings forcefully back. Over time, the swings between extremes become increasingly violent. Maybe "controlling" weeds is better than "eradicating" them. Maybe we need to learn that a 100% win is, in fact, setting ourselves up with some extremely bad karma.

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

www.abovetopsecret.com...
Agent Orange chemical in GM war on resistant weeds

Its already been posted.

reply to post by Unity_99


No offense but I like this topic better than yours. It has less fear mongering, and a more down to Earth discussion.


reply to post by HunkaHunka



OP, you make a good point. Winning 100% against weeds and worms doesn't seem necessary. I bet there is even a yet to be discovered benefit to having these weeds and worms in some amounts.

I have a feeling that if they keep increasing the pesticides in GM crops, the worms and weeds will grow stronger and more immune, ad infinitum. Then, sooner or later the GM crops will be powerful enough to be toxic and kill humans.

reply to post by senselessness


Nonetheless my thread is first in this category. And I don't agree with the slants on many different threads.

The sensationalism is in the studies. They're frightening.

reply to post by senselessness


I appreciate it

It would appear that the hardest lesson I've learned in this life so far, is also the hardest lesson for many: Sometimes you can't make something better - you can only prevent it from getting worse. At least I didn't threaten established ecological systems while learning.

I hate these people. I really, really hate these people.