Enviromental Hazards of GM Food

GM Food doesn't just cause health problems for ourselves, but for the Environment. Studies showed that the pollen from BT Corn caused death rates from monarch butterfly caterpillars to go up. The butterflies eat milkweed plants, not corn, but people are afraid that the pollen from the corn will spread to other plants in neighboring fields.  The butterflies and caterpillars will consume the plants that contain pollen that is toxic for them and perish. BT Corn pollen can kill many different species of insect larvae. It is not possible to create a type of BT Corn who's pollen will kill pests and remain harmless to other insects. This could spread so fast that scientists might not be able to contain it and other species of insects will become extinct.

Reduced effectiveness of pesticides

Another concern is that some new populations of mosquitoes are now resistant to the (now banned) pesticide called DDT. Concerns grow to the fact that these insects will soon be resistant to other pesticides that are supposed to keep pests away. Also, the crop's chemicals could genetically alter the insect in ways when they eat the crops as well. Their offspring could be even more resistant to these pesticides.

Gene transfer to other species

Scientists are afraid that they crop plants that they have genetically engineered will cross-breed with weeds and other plants, which will result in the transfer of herbicide- resistant genes to those weeds, making them tolerant to those herbicides and pesticides. They call these plants "superweeds".This chain will continue onto other plants AND animals because they consume these plants, which will either harm them or spread even more. We don't know what tyoes of reactions that we will get from the animals that eat the chemicals.