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The TL;DR: There are 2 types of GMO corn: Insect Resistant and Glyphosate Resistant, (Glyphosate is a herbicide, so it can be sprayed on fields killing weeds b

The TL;DR: There are 2 types of GMO corn: Insect Resistant and Glyphosate Resistant, (Glyphosate is a herbicide, so it can be sprayed on fields killing weeds but not resistant corn). Corn resistant to pests has less loss, therefore higher yield. Also, since there's less insect damage, there's less chance for rot, and therefore fewer mycotoxins, (mycotoxins = toxins that come from fungus). It also hasn't been sprayed with as many pesticides as a non-resistant variety would be, so there's less actual poison on the corn. Corn with no competition from weeds has higher yield, and glyphosate makes it really easy to kill everything else in the field. More corn = more food = better health. Let's pick this apart a bit! Ignoring the lobbyist domain, since the study also appears in Nature[1], there are some sneaky twists here: > GMO corn crops had lower percentages of mycotoxins (-28.8 percent), fumonisins (-30.6 percent) and thricotecens (−36.5 percent), all of which can lead to economic losses and harm human and animal health Fumonisins are a class of mycotoxins, so that 30.6% reduction is already included in the 28.8% reduction of mycotoxins. The word "Thricotecens" only appears in Google as part of this study, and isn't in my computer's dictionary. Is there a scientist that can explain what it is? Is it another sub-group of mycotoxins? Is it a good idea to be consuming corn that grew up with glyphosate[2] in the fields? It seems pretty poisonous, and I didn't see anything about balancing the benefits of more corn vs. less glyphosate. We can also talk about if having more corn in our diet is really a good idea if we want, (spoiler: generally no, especially if you live in North America). [1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-21284-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-21284-2 [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate

yorwba 9y ago
Thricotecens is probably a misspelling of Trichothecenes, which are mycotoxins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichothecene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichothecene
- jbeales 9y ago
  From the Wikipedia link: "Trichothecenes are a very large family of chemically related mycotoxins produced by various species of Fusarium, Myrothecium, Trichoderma, ..." Wikipedia says that Fumosins also come from Fusarium, so it looks like one particular group of mycotoxins is reduced. Granted, Fusarium is a problem in gardens all over, (Fusarium Wilt will kill almost any food plant), but still, if all we're doing is sort-of beating one particular plant ailment it might be worth a cost-benefit analysis, externalizing as little as possible.

yorwba 9y ago

Thricotecens is probably a misspelling of Trichothecenes, which are mycotoxins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichothecene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichothecene

jbeales 9y ago
From the Wikipedia link: "Trichothecenes are a very large family of chemically related mycotoxins produced by various species of Fusarium, Myrothecium, Trichoderma, ..." Wikipedia says that Fumosins also come from Fusarium, so it looks like one particular group of mycotoxins is reduced. Granted, Fusarium is a problem in gardens all over, (Fusarium Wilt will kill almost any food plant), but still, if all we're doing is sort-of beating one particular plant ailment it might be worth a cost-benefit analysis, externalizing as little as possible.