---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jonathan Latham <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 7:22 PM Subject: Have Monsanto and the Biotech Industry Turned Natural Bt Pesticides into GMO “Super toxins”? To: [email protected] Dear Friends and Colleagues Published today (Monday, October 9th) in *Independent Science News* *Have Monsanto and the Biotech Industry Turned Natural Bt Pesticides into GMO “Super toxins”?* By Jonathan Latham, PhD https://www.independentsciencenews.org/environment/have-monsanto-and- the-biotech-industry-turned-natural-bt-pesticides-into- gmo-super-toxins/#more-2262 *Synopsis*: GMO foods, especially those made from corn and soybeans, contain significant quantities of a diverse family of pesticidal proteins called Bt toxins whose mode of toxicity is to make holes in cell membranes. Newer GMO crops can contain up to six different Bt toxins. These proteins (also called Cry toxins) originate from the bacterium *Bacillus thuringiensis*. The biotech industry claims that its Bt toxins are natural and as safe as those used by organic farmers. GMO regulators around the world share this view. Indeed, they make it the baseline assumption of their risk assessments for food safety and environmental toxicology. As we show in a new peer reviewed publication, however, assumptions of similarity of any GMO Bt with its natural ancestor are very wide of the mark. More than that, we show that the differences between natural and GMO Bt toxins are such as to make the latter much more toxic. The changes made to GMO Bt toxins may expand the species range of Bt toxin activity to many more insects, but potentially to other evolutionary branches of life as well. Our publication thus represents a profound reassessment of Bt toxin safety and proposes that the biotech industry has lured complacent GMO regulators into dramatically underestimating the hazards of pesticides eaten by millions. Please share this if you find our work of value. Yours sincerely Jonathan Jonathan Latham, PhD Executive Director The Bioscience Resource Project Ithaca, NY 14850 USA Twitter and Facebook: @Biosrp www.independentsciencenews.org and www.bioscienceresource.org [email protected] Skype: jonathanlatham2 Tel: 1-607-319-0279 “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”—Edward Bernays, Propaganda _______________________________________________ BSR-project-elist1 mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/bsr-project- elist1 To unsubscribe, email [email protected] -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/