I just received the following email which I think will interest many on this
list.  If applicable to humans it may solve some overpopulation problems...
;-)

Gus diZerega
____________

From: Chris Desser

The notice of this emerging problem just appeared in the Iowa Farm Bureau
newsletter.
Note: critics of genetically engineered corn have focused on allergenicity
not something like pseudopregnancies.

______

>Bt Corn Linked to Hog Breeding Problems

>

>Submitted by Jim Riddle

>Rt. 3 Box 162C

>Winona, MN 55987

>

>May 20, 2002

>

>In its April 29, 2002, edition, the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman

>contained an alarming story on sow breeding problems related to the

>feeding of genetically engineered Bt corn.

>

>According to the article, Shelby County, Iowa, farmer Jerry Rosman was

>alarmed when farrowing rates in his sow herd plummeted nearly 80

>percent. Rosman, who has nearly 30 years of farrowing experience,

>checked and double-checked all of the usual suspect causes. He tested

>for diseases, verified his artificial insemination methods were being

>properly implemented, and poured over his nutritional program. But he

>found nothing out of the ordinary.

>

>Eventually, Rosman became aware of four other producers within a

>15-mile radius of his farm whose herds had nearly identical

>pseudopregnancies. The herds had different management styles, different

>breeding methods and different swine genetics.

>

>A common denominator, Rosman says, is that all of the operations fed

>their herds the same Bt corn hybrids.

>

>Laboratory tests revealed their corn contained high levels of Fusarium

>mold. Rosman says researchers typed the Fusarium down to four strains,

>and two of them (Fusarium subglutinans and Fusarium

>monlliforme) were consistent in all of the producers' samples.

>

>One of the producers subsequently switched back to regular non-Bt corn,

>and pseudopregnancy is no longer a problem within that herd.

>

>Rosman believes the problem manifested itself on his farm because he

>planted 100 percent of the same brand of genetically engineered Bt seed

>corn and fed 100 percent of that corn to his livestock.

>

>According to the article, Rosman isn't sure whether or not he'll be

>planting any corn on his land this year. An agronomist has told him

>that a regular rotation of corn and soybeans might not get rid of

>whatever gene has contaminated his corn ground.

>

>In a follow up article on May 13, 2002, the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman

>reported that shortly after the story detailing Rosman's situation

>appeared, he was flooded with phone calls. "It hadn't even hit the

>mailboxes and the phone started ringing," Rosman says.

>

>By late last week he had received calls from 12 other producers from

>various parts of the state detailing situations very much like his own.

>The calls primarily came from smaller producers who, like Rosman, feed

>their own corn and noticed a sharp decline in farrowing rates recently.

>

>The Rosman article sparked the interest of Norm Smith, who farms east

>of Winterset, Iowa. Smith says he started experiencing breeding

>problems within a few weeks of feeding the new corn hybrids he planted

>for the first time last spring.

>

>"I started feeding Bt corn in late September, and within 30 days I

>wasn't getting anything bred," Smith said, adding that his brother

>encountered similar problems.

>

>The Spokesman articles illustrate the fact that genetically engineered

>crops have been rushed to market without proper testing. There have

>been no mandatory tests on the long term effects of these crops on

>livestock or human health. For example, the EPA, which regulates Bt

>corn, requires no tests to determine how the crop impacts the

>reproductive systems of the animals that eat it.

>

>Genetically engineered materials, such as products manufactured from Bt

>corn, are now commonly found in conventional foods. Due to a political

>decision made in 1992 by the Bush/Quayle administration, genetically

>engineered foods are not required to be segregated or labeled. Anyone

>who eats foods containing conventional corn, soy, canola, and/or

>cottonseed products is an unwitting guinea pig in a vast, uncharted

>ecological experiment.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Chris Desser

Funders Working Group on Emerging Technologies

2151 Pacific Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94115

415-561-2627

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