Collateral Damage
GM-Oh-Oh
GMOs Threaten Wheat Exports America lags behind the world in limiting, banning or even labeling genetically modified (GE, GM or GMO) crops, and now Japan has suspended some imports from the United States because of the discovery of unapproved GM wheat in Oregon. The European Union is weighing similar action. Serious economic implications stem from the fact that many countries will not accept imports of genetically modified foods, and the U.S. exports about half of its annual wheat crop. The Washington Post reports the presence of GMO wheat on an 80-acre field in Oregon as a mystery. Monsanto tested a similar strain in Oregon between 1994 and 2005, but the product was never approved for commercial use. The strain was identified in the state when a farmer tried clearing a field using Monsanto’s herbicide and discovered that the wheat could not be killed. Blake Rowe, CEO of the Oregon Wheat Commission, says that reductions in Northwest wheat sales would affect farmers in Idaho and Washington as well as Oregon, because the wheat is blended together. Oregon sold $492 million of wheat in 2011; 90 percent of it went overseas.
Disappearing Wild Pollinators Spell Disaster The perilous decline of domestic honeybees due to the widespread occurrence of colony collapse disorder continues to make news, but wild bees and other insects are often overlooked, even though they are twice as effective in producing seeds and fruit on crops, according to a study of 41 crops in 600 fields worldwide by Argentina’s research network, CONICET. For the first time, scientists
Blighted Icon
Chestnut Tree Comeback on the Horizon The American chestnut tree once dominated the American landscape from Georgia to Maine, providing the raw materials that fueled our young nation’s westward expansion and inspiring writings by Longfellow and Thoreau. But by the 1950s, the trees, stricken by blight, were all but extinct. Now, after 30 years of breeding and crossbreeding, The American Chestnut Foundation believes it has developed a potentially blight-resistant tree, dubbed the Restoration Chestnut 1.0. The group has adopted a master plan for planting millions of trees in the 19 states of the chestnut’s original range. This year, volunteers in state chapters are establishing seed orchards that will produce regionally adapted nuts for transplanting into the wild.
Chug-A-Lug
Pricey Bottled Water May Come from a Tap Peter Gleick, the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, found that most companies are cagey about revealing the source of their water. “There’s no legal requirement that they say on their label where the water comes from, and they don’t like to advertise that fact,” says Gleick. As a result, most Americans don’t know much about the origins of what we spend $11 billion a year on. In order to be called “spring water”, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a product has to be either “collected at the point where water flows naturally to the Earth’s surface or from a borehole that taps into the underground source.” Other terms aren’t regulated. Gleick found that about 55 percent of bottled waters are spring water. The other 45 percent is mostly treated tap water, including Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke).
have a handle on the huge contribution of wild insects, showing that honeybees cannot replace the wild insects lost as their habitat is increasingly destroyed. Study leader Lucas Garibaldi, of Argentina’s National University, in Río Negro, says that relying on honeybees is a highly risky strategy, because disease can sweep through a single species and it may not adapt to environmental changes as well as wild pollinators. Also, trucking in managed honeybee hives does not replace native pollinators, which visit more plants, resulting in more effective cross-pollination; honeybees tend to carry pollen from one flower to another on the same plant.
Source: Mother Jones natural awakenings
August 2013
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