GMO Research
Abstract: In 1995, the then Scottish Office of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department (SOAEFD) advertised a research program on safety aspects of GM crops. Until then, there was not a single publication in peer-reviewed journals on the safety of GM food. Not surprisingly, this was of great public and scientific concern, so it was thought …
Abstract: In the Pampas, public concern has strongly risen because of the intensive use of glyphosate for weed control and fallow associated with biotech crops. The present study was aimed to evaluate the occurrence and concentration of the herbicide and its main metabolite (AMPA) in soil and other environmental compartments of the mentioned agroecosystem, including groundwater, …
Abstract: Since large-scale commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) crops began in 1996, a concern has been that non-GM crops may become contaminated by GM crops and that wild or weedy relatives of GM crops growing outside of cultivated areas could become contaminated. The GM Contamination Register contains records of GM contamination incidents since 1997 and …
Abstract: Conservation tillage reduces the physical movement of soil to the minimum required for crop establishment and production. When consistently practiced as a soil and crop management system, it greatly reduces soil erosion and is recognized for the potential to improve soil quality and water conservation and plant available water. Adoption of conservation tillage increased …
Abstract: This review addresses the possible ecological effects of transgenic plants on micro-organisms in the field, hence, in the phytosphere and in the soil matrix. The important steps involved in the interaction between plant DNA and bacteria and the factors that influence the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) process will be discussed. HGT is a process …
Abstract: At present there are 110 single or stacked event genetically modified (GM) plant varieties under EU registration. Bt plants emerged in Hungary considerably in maize, and their range was limited to varieties resistant to corn borer and corn rootworm. It has been mentioned as an advantage of Bt plants that they provide continuous protection …
Abstract: The world wide and continuously increasing contamination of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems with pesticides and other agrochemicals is considered as a main factor causing global amphibian declines. Glyphosate, the most commonly used nonselective systemic herbicide, is sold under a variety of commercial names (e. g. Roundup® and Vision®), and is promoted by the introduction …
Abstract: Glyphosate-based products are the leading post-emergent agricultural herbicides in the world, particularly in association with glyphosate tolerant crops. However, studies on the effects of glyphosate-based formulations on terrestrial receptors are scarce. This study was conducted to evaluate the comparative toxicity of two glyphosate-based products: Roundup FG (monoammonium salt, 72% acid equivalent, glyphosate-A) and Mon …
Text: As food riots spread across the globe in response to skyrocketing prices and shortages resulting from mounting competition between food and crop-based agrofuels, the cellulosic ethanol industry is heavily promoting fuel produced from trees as the solution to this conflict. However, ethanol from trees is not a solution. Rather, it will have dangerous ecological …
Abstract: Changing existing features of living beings or giving new features to them by changing the natural gene sequence through biotechnological methods is called “genetically modified organisms”, in short “GMO”. Nowadays, lots of food consumed is either totally genetically modified food or a type of food including food components produced by gene modification technology. Improving …
Abstract: There is no doubt that soybean is the most important crop for Argentina, with a planted surface that rose 11,000,000 hectares and a production of around 35,000,000 metric tons. During the 1990s, there was a significant agriculture transformation in the country, motorize by the adoption of transgenic crops (soy- bean, maize, and cotton) under …
Abstract: Almost a decade ago (1996) Argentina released the commercial use of transgenic seed. Thereafter, the characteristics of Argentinean Agriculture changed drastically. The “Transgenic Revolution” involves soybean, corn and cotton. The process occurred during the last decade and it is considered an intensification of the “external inputs technology” that is considered as the “input decade”. …
Abstract: Off‐target deposit has been quantified from various silvicultural glyphosate application methods and an estimate made of the buffer‐zone widths required around water to protect fish and their invertebrate food species from possible toxicological effects. To overcome the difficulty of estimating different buffer widths to meet the various use conditions encountered, a realistic worst‐case scenario …
Abstract: Farming has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the role of pesticides is not known. We examined associations between RA and pesticides or other agricultural exposures among female spouses of licensed pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study. Women were enrolled between 1993 and 1997 and followed through 2010. Cases (n = 275 …
Abstract: Plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs) are biopesticides expressed in genetically modified (GM) crops and are typically macromolecular in nature. First-generation insecticidal PIPs were Cry proteins expressed in GM crops containing transgenes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis; next-generation double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) PIPs have been recently approved. Like conventional synthetic pesticides, the use of either Cry …
Abstract: Until recently, ecological tests of invasiveness for transgenic plants have investigated traits with limited ecological relevance, and so the fact that most have shown no additional risk of invasion is not surprising. Similarly, results to date provide us with little confidence in the opinion held by many in the biotechnology industry that genetic engineering is …
Abstract: Brassica rapa L. is an annual Brassicaceae species cultivated for oil and food production, whose wild form is a weed of crops worldwide. In temperate regions of South America and especially in the Argentine Pampas region, this species is widely distributed. During 2014, wild B. rapa populations that escaped control with glyphosate applications by …
Abstract: The broad spectrum herbicide glyphosate is widely used in agriculture worldwide. There has been ongoing controversy regarding the possible adverse effects of glyphosate on the environment and on human health. Reports of neural defects and craniofacial malformations from regions where glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) are used led us to undertake an embryological approach to explore …
Abstract: A tracer experiment is carried out with transgenic T (variety M 7211 RR) and non-transgenic NT (variety MSOY 8200) soybean plants to evaluate if genetic modification can influence the uptake and translocation of Fe. A chelate of EDTA with enriched stable 57Fe is applied to the plants cultivated in vermiculite plus substrate and the …
Abstract: Little is known about the consequences of releasing genetically engineered plants (GEP) into the environment. Using opine-producing GEP, we show that transgenic plants alter their biological environment, more precisely the root-associated bacterial populations. The alterations were both transgene-specific and target population-specific. Therefore, assessment studies on the introduction of a given transgene into a GEP …
Abstract: Herbicides are the foundation of weed control in commercial crop-production systems. However, herbicide-resistant (HR) weed populations are evolving rapidly as a natural response to selection pressure imposed by modern agricultural management activities. Mitigating the evolution of herbicide resistance depends on reducing selection through diversification of weed control techniques, minimizing the spread of resistance genes …
Abstract: Non-target organisms associated with the soil might be adversely affected by exposure to the CrylAb protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in transgenic corn (Zea mays L.). To check for such exposure, we used ELISA to test for Cry1Ab in ground beetles collected live from fields with Bt corn residues and Bt corn (Bt/Bt), Bt …
Abstract: A 200-day study was carried out to investigate the impact of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn on immature and adult Lumbricus terrestris in the field and in the laboratory. Another objective of this study was to develop test methods that could be used for standard testing of the impact of transgenic plants on different …
Abstract: Large quantities of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn plant residue are left in the field after harvest, which may have implications for the soil ecosystem. Potential impacts on soil organisms will also depend on the persistence of the Bt toxin in plant residues. Therefore, it is important to know how long the toxin persists in …
Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of glyphosate on soil microbial activity under appropriate and water deficit conditions. The factors consisted of four treatments with different Roundup Ready® soybean cultivars, two herbicidal treatments [glyphosate (1.080 and 1.800 g a.e. ha-1) + control] and two soil moisture treatments (appropriate and water …
