Laura Costas
[log in to unmask]
Silver Spring, MD
GM: BEES SHUN BIOTECH; COLDIRETTI, NATURE DEFENDS ITSELF
(AGI) - Rome, Jan 3 - The fact that bees are staying away
from fields
cultivated with genetically modified organisms and the
consequent
reduction in pollination is a scientific alarm for
agriculture and
the environment, which justifies the precaution and gives
value to
the zero tolerance decision made by Italian agriculture
against
biotech, said Coldiretti, commenting on the results of
study by the
Department of Biological Sciences of Simon Fraser
University from
British Columbia, Canada. The study, which was published by
the
Ecological Society of America, showed that in fields
cultivated with
GM rapes the number of bees fell sharply, with a serious
deficit in
pollination compared to traditionally grown fields. Besides
being
insects useful for agriculture due to their pollination
activities,
which help crop-growing, bees have always been an important
sensor to
evaluate the quality of agricultural systems, Coldiretti
said. Their
diffidence of GM products is therefore a signal from nature
that
should not be underestimated. Bees ability to distinguish
GM plants
from normal plants also shows that the two crops are not
equivalent.
Coldiretti said that this confirms the concern about the
effects of
co-existence between traditional crops and biotech crops
and it shows
that more research and testing is needed to verify the
effects on the
agricultural ecosystem. This study justifies the growing
opposition
to GM products as food: three out of four Italians (74
percent) say
they believe GM products are not healthy, an opinion which
has grown
by 4 percent, according to the 2006 Coldiretti-ISPO
Investigation on
Italians' opinions about nutrition. It is a signal which is
coherent
with the path chosen by Italian agriculture which, also
thanks to
Coldiretti's work for food quality and security, is free
from GM
products and has garnered the European leadership in
biological foods
and traditional products. (AGI) -
031817 GEN 07
COPYRIGHTS 2002-2006 AGI S.p.A.
Received from Laura I just had to send the information
here.
Regards,
Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/
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