Extra hot weather may damage gene soya - magazine
Date: 18-Nov-99
Country: UK
"It has the potential to be quite a problem," the magazine quoted Bill
Vencill of the University of Georgia as saying.
In soil that reached 25 degrees Celsius genetically modified Monsanto
beans grew as well as conventional beans, but in warmer soils the GM
beans were stunted, the magazine said in a statement on its story, which
quotes findings described to a meeting of the British Crop Protection
Council.
There were marked differences in soils reaching 45 degrees C. "We saw
lower heights, yields and weights in the Monsanto beans," Vencill said.
Stems of virtually all the Monsanto plants split open, unlike most
varieties grown in hot climates.
He suspected that the phenomenon was the result of changes caused by the
additions of genes to make the plants resistant to the herbicide
glyphosate. Plants resistant to the herbicide gluphosinate were not
affected. "It's not genetic modification per se that's causing the
effects," Vencill said.
"Until we've seen a published and peer reviewed article it would be
inappropriate to draw any definitive conclusion from this study," a
spokesman for Monsanto in the UK said. "Suffice to say in the real world
farmers will only choose varieties which deliver an economic benefit to
them."