Monsanto’s Bt Cotton Kills the Soil as Well as Farmers

[xhausted]

Thank you Lorna speaking simply & clearly. This forum is the best place to research and educate yourself about GMO's & the corporations behind them.

[deciduousLychees]

Originally Posted by lorna-organic

Monsanto's ag premise includes GM seeds, chem fertilizers and pesticides. The contracts for growing GM require the whole kit and kaboodle. Farmers have to sign contracts to obtain the GM seed. Monsanto makes their money via the whole cycle, the money is not in the seeds, themselves.

Well, I'm not defending Monsanto's coupled contracts or anything (although I don't necessarily think that such contracts are bad, either, so long as they're clear and open about what people are getting themselves into), just saying that I highly doubt that because a cotton plant has a Bt gene in it that it suddenly becomes inferior in every conceivable manner to an identical plant without the gene, which appears to be the picture being painted here. Could it be Monsanto's chemicals? Possibly, and that would of course cause a correlation, but that doesn't say anything about the plant itself, which is what try to concern myself with. After all, the article did say that it was GM cotton, not chemicals bundled with GM cotton, that blew up in everyone's face.

Although I am curious to know why an organic soil setup would inhibit pests any better than anything else? What is in it that does that that a synthetic mix doesn't have? I'm not trying to knock anything (I know organics are big here) just curious.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature (*thunder crack)

[tweed]

Originally Posted by tughillcam

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature (*thunder crack)

I remember that commercial! Wasn't Chiffon the name of the product?

Steve

[FAADAN]

Natural fertilizers feed the soil and the microbial activity in the soil releases nutrients for the plants. Chemicals hurt the microbial activity and depend on the chemicals to feed the plants.

[lorna-organic]

Thank you, Xhausted. Unfortunately, I'm going to get a bit more technical here.

A good soil ecosystem causes the plants to develop beneficial fungi, mycorrhizae, within their root systems. This is the normal (natural) growth pattern. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides do not allow this symbiotic relationship between plant and mycorrhizae to develop because chemicals kill soil organisms. Without mycorrhizae in the root system, the plant is growing under abnormal conditions. This weakens the plant, therefore it is more susceptible to disease, harmful fungus and pest insects. Weak plants put out different chemical signals than healthy plants put out. Certain chemical signals attract predatory insects and pathogens. Plants which have mycorrhizae growing within their root systems are more able to absorb and utilize soil nutrients as well as water.

Here is a cut and paste of a Wiki article on mycorrhiza:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza

"A mycorrhiza (Greek for fungus roots coined by Frank, 1885[1]; typically seen in the plural forms mycorrhizae or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic (occasionally weakly pathogenic) association between a fungus and the roots of a plant.[2] In a mycorrhizal association the fungus may colonize the roots of a host plant either intracellularly or extracellularly. It is an important part of soil life.

This mutualistic association provides the fungus with relatively constant and direct access to mono- or dimeric carbohydrates, such as glucose and sucrose produced by the plant in photosynthesis.[3] The carbohydrates are translocated from their source location (usually leaves) to the root tissues and then to the fungal partners. In return, the plant gains the use of the mycelium's very large surface area to absorb water and mineral nutrients from the soil, thus improving the mineral absorption capabilities of the plant roots.[4] Plant roots alone may be incapable of taking up phosphate ions that are immobilized, for example, in soils with a basic pH. The mycelium of the mycorrhizal fungus can however access these phosphorus sources, and make them available to the plants they colonize.[5] The mechanisms of increased absorption are both physical and chemical. Mycorrhizal mycelia are much smaller in diameter than the smallest root, and can explore a greater volume of soil, providing a larger surface area for absorption. Also, the cell membrane chemistry of fungi is different from that of plants. Mycorrhizae are especially beneficial for the plant partner in nutrient-poor soils.

Mycorrhizal plants are often more resistant to diseases, such as those caused by microbial soil-borne pathogens, and are also more resistant to the effects of drought. These effects are perhaps due to the improved water and mineral uptake in mycorrhizal plants.

Mycorrhizae form a mutualistic relationship with the roots of most plant species (and while only a small proportion of all species has been examined, 95% of these plant families are predominantly mycorrhizal).[6]

Plants grown in sterile soils and growth media often perform poorly without the addition of spores or hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi to colonise the plant roots and aid in the uptake of soil mineral nutrients. The absence of mycorrhizal fungi can also slow plant growth in early succession or on degraded landscapes.[7]"

Originally Posted by tweed

I remember that commercial! Wasn't Chiffon the name of the product?

Steve

Correct !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLrTPrp-fW8

[G. Gordon Gumbo]

I think I missed the part about "Bt Cotton Kills the Farmers."

Could someone point out to me how Bt cotton kills farmers?

GGG

[deciduousLychees]

Ah, thanks, I've never heard the mycorrhizae thing. I mean, I knew what they are and what they do (actually, they were on a test I took last week), but I never heard that chemical fertilizers killed them, although I'd still wonder specifically what exclusively artificial chemical(s) it is that does it and if it can be removed. I'll look into that further.

[G. Gordon Gumbo]

Also, someone please explain to me how organic gardening will prevent virus and fungal infections of tomato plants. I'm asking specifically about tomato spot wilt virus (TSWV), tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), Bacterial Speck, Early Blight, Late Blight, Septoria, etc.

If someone claims that organic gardening practices can prevent the tomato diseases I have listed, or even promote plant tolerance to the point of harvesting sound fruit, please provide a link to backing documentation from scientific field studies.

GGG