Finally, a reasonable article about genetically engineered plants helping farmers, consumers and the environment! As a publicly funded scientist whose goal is to develop safer pest management strategies, I congratulate Bangladesh for having the courage and foresight to adopt Bt eggplant. Rather than having to protect the eggplant by oftentimes daily applications of broad-spectrum insecticides, farmers in Bangladesh can now use plants that produce a protein from a common bacterium (Bt) that protects it from attack by the devastating eggplant fruit and shoot borer. And Bt is so safe that I routinely taste it when presenting lectures about it! I would never do that with any other type of insecticide, conventional or organic. Furthermore, because this Bt only affects some species of caterpillars, it does not harm pollinators and other beneficial insects. In fact, our research has shown that beneficial arthropods such as predators and parasites are not harmed by Bt so they actually help delay the development of "immunity" by pests to Bt plants. So, Bt plants protect the crop and help conserve biodiversity, a win-win situation. Most importantly, they also protect farmers and consumers from the well documented hazards of common insecticides that are routinely applied to produce eggplant in Bangladesh. Congratulations to Bangladesh for making a judgement based on scientific facts and adopting Bt eggplant.
Finally, a reasonable article about genetically engineered plants helping farmers, consumers and the environment! As a publicly funded scientist whose goal is to develop safer pest management strategies, I congratulate Bangladesh for having the courage and foresight to adopt Bt eggplant. Rather than having to protect the eggplant by oftentimes daily applications of broad-spectrum insecticides, farmers in Bangladesh can now use plants that produce a protein from a common bacterium (Bt) that protects it from attack by the devastating eggplant fruit and shoot borer. And Bt is so safe that I routinely taste it when presenting lectures about it! I would never do that with any other type of insecticide, conventional or organic. Furthermore, because this Bt only affects some species of caterpillars, it does not harm pollinators and other beneficial insects. In fact, our research has shown that beneficial arthropods such as predators and parasites are not harmed by Bt so they actually help delay the development of "immunity" by pests to Bt plants. So, Bt plants protect the crop and help conserve biodiversity, a win-win situation. Most importantly, they also protect farmers and consumers from the well documented hazards of common insecticides that are routinely applied to produce eggplant in Bangladesh. Congratulations to Bangladesh for making a judgement based on scientific facts and adopting Bt eggplant.