Over and over again? But why would they do that? Unless, of course, a single application is insufficient because it will degrade within days. So what do you think happens when the corn is harvested and pesticide is no longer applied?
The biggest reason that it is reapplied over and over again is that rain and irrigation will wash it off. But this doesn’t actually wash it all off. It just washes it off parts of the plants, often washing it down into the plant itself.
It needs to be reapplied though, because parts which aren’t covered are then prone to being eaten, and any insect damage is generally going to ruin the entire plant for sale anyway.
So you end up getting little patches of the plants washed off, and then need to reapply to cover the whole plants again and again.
Further, the bacteria themselves are only active for a certain period, between one and 30 days… the general reapplication period, due to this and reduction of effectiveness from washing is normally between one to two weeks.
Make no mistake, you are definitely consuming BT, especially when you are eating leafy vegetables. It’s all over them at the store, and unless you are meticulous in washing every millimeter of every leaf, it’s still on them when you cook or serve them.
But you know what? That’s ok. It’s not toxic to humans. We’ve used it widely for a century. We’ve conducted tons of studies. We’ve force fed huge amounts of BT to rats and never had ill effects.
But that’s also why the minute amount of the delta endotoxins from BT crops don’t hurt you. It’s just broken down in your gut.
Unless you are an insect. Then you should probably avoid them.
I don’t have any studies on hand to completely back this up, but many organic farming methods (this is very region and crop specific) end up using more pesticides than the non-organic farming methods.
I like this guy’s videos
This has a great description of how BT corn works
I wouldn’t say that we should go free for all with GMO’s, there are definitely some large companies that are benefitting from GMO’s, and we definitely need to have checks and balances to control these things. Our current agricultural system is more of an issue than the concept of GMO’s as a whole.
But why try to fix complex systemic issues, when you can just ban something peripherally related, and feel like you’ve accomplished something? It’s sooooo much easier that way.
Especially when GMO’s offer workable solutions to many of the problems caused by industrial agriculture.
No they aren’t. You consume trace pesticides with every bite. The point is that the trace amounts you get are not harmful to you, a human. Bt corn allows you to ingest much, much less pesticide than “conventional” farming.
Then it’s a good thing I don’t eat corn leaves.
Presumably you easy other vegetables besides corn.
Otherwise you are probably gonna die anyway.
Yes, but we were talking about bt crops. That’s mostly corn, potato, and cotton. I don’t eat any of those leaves.
But since you consume tons of BT, the trivial amount you consume from those crops is entirely immaterial
This seems like it fits.
(He apologized)
Ha! Big oops.
He was so close. And then he shat himself.
Errmm…caffeine is a pesticide. :)
“Over any other rights.”
Yeah, I’ll take all my rights over my ‘right to be safe’ thanks.
I get what he’s going for, but that verbiage is the verbiage of a tyrant.
Yeah, a vague “right to be safe” doesn’t trump actual constitutional rights.
Narrator says nothing, just points to 18 years of Patriot Act provisions which are (still) in force.
Those aren’t any less bullshit and are a good example of why ceding rights to government in the name of “safety” is a terrible idea.
Agree, which means this sort of thing isn’t a liberal stupidity.
It is in this case and historically it’s a liberal position. The whole “only cops should have guns” idea, cause cops are great and never abuse their power.
Our conservatives went authoritarian, so we don’t really have any of them anymore.