Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them*—Anti-Biotech Edition
Anti-biotech crop activists are often economical with the truth, but this one is a particularly amusing howler. From GE Free NZ anti-biotech spokesperson Claire Bleakley:
"Bt is a insecticidal toxin and has known deleterious effects on the blood and organs."
If this were true (and it's not), this would be very disturbing news to consumers of organic foods and organic farmers who have been dousing their crops with b.t. for decades. But not to worry, the Environmental Protection Agency has found:
The delta-endotoxin proteins of B. thuringinesis have been intensively studied and no indications of mammalian toxicity have been reported. Furthermore, approximately 176 different B. thuringiensis products have been registered since 1961, and the Agency has not received any reports of dietary toxicity attributable to their use.
An even more recent EPA analysis of b.t. biotech crops finds:
The mammalian toxicity data gathered by the EPA currently are sufficient to support the Bt plant-incorporated protectant registrations. None of the products registered at this time, all of which have tolerance exemptions for food use, show any characteristics of toxins or food allergens.
Bleakley is just another in a long of line of anti-biotech liars.
*Apologies to Al Franken.
