8-10 IAN Superbugs

 Biological adaptation. In many cases it is stronger than science.

 We are all painfully aware of the fact that weeds are becoming resistant to herbicides at an alarming rate.  Well,  insect pests are adapting to  pesticides in unexpected ways, researchers have discovered.  Here is entomologist Daniel Stolte in a conversation I had very recently. “Insects are following the weeds in terms of their ability to evolve. That’s right. I am not a specialist on weeds but yes, insects are also evolving resistance to genetically modified plants. The way that those 2 different kinds of genetically modified crops work is different. In the case of the insects, we are modifying the plants so that they kill pests. In the case of the plants, we are modifying crops so that they won’t be killed by herbicide so we can use the same herbicide that we have used all along to kill the plants we want to get rid of, the weeds. We hear about superbugs. Viruses, bacteria, is there a fear factor here? I would avoid using the term superbugs for the insects he cause it kind of implies that they have a special power to do all kinds of things. Generally when an insect develops resistance to an insecticide whether that insecticide is sprayed or produced by a genetically modified plant, that is the only new trait that we see in the insect. An improved ability to survive exposure to that particular insecticide.