Unforseeable Consequences

[dieseltaylor]

Who would have thought this could have happened. Perhaps this will be a warning to consider all the possibilities before these "advances" become widespread

Mirid Bug Outbreaks in Multiple Crops Correlated with Wide-Scale Adoption of Bt Cotton in China

Yanhui Lu,1 Kongming Wu,1,* Yuying Jiang,2 Bing Xia,2 Ping Li,2 Hongqiang Feng,1 Kris A. G. Wyckhuys,1, Yuyuan Guo1

Long-term ecological effects of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops on nontarget pests have received limited attention, more so in diverse small holder–based cropping systems of the developing world. Field trials conducted over 10 years in northern China show that mirid bugs (Heteroptera: Miridae) have progressively increased population sizes and acquired pest status in cotton and multiple other crops, in association with a regional increase in Bt cotton adoption. More specifically, our analyses show that Bt cotton has become a source of mirid bugs and that their population increases are related to drops in insecticide use in this crop. Hence, alterations of pest management regimes in Bt cotton could be responsible for the appearance and subsequent spread of nontarget pests at an agro-landscape level.

1 State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, People’s Republic of China.

2 National Agro-Technical Extension and Service Center, Beijing 100026, People’s Republic of China.

[costard]

Yeah, well. The definition of a weed plant is any plant that is defined as a weed, I expect the same is true of pest insects. Where an ecological niche is opened up (through the use of herbicides/pesticides) you'll find non-target species rushing to exploit the advantage. Who'd a thunk?