Human Practices

As part of our human practices, we communicated with several different stakeholders and professionals to assess whether our project was a good idea, and obtained the opinions of each stakeholder about our project and genetic modification of crops in general. Compiling the discussions with Tony Shaw, WBKA president, and Jonathan Harrington, led us to bioinformatically analyse any foreseeable effects our RNAi constructs could have on bees and predators alike. More details of these results can be seen on our bioinformatics page. This page serves to highlight who we communicated with, and what their views were.

Agronomist

A meeting with Jonathan Harrington, an Agronomist, greatly informed us of the current controls used widely across the UK and by farmers he advises. He discussed with us the current chemical spray commonly used, in particular: Neonicotinoids and Synthetic pyrethroids. It takes only 5 maize seeds treated with the Neonicotinoid spray to kill a single grey partridge, says Professor David Gouson, of Sussex University⁽¹⁾. These are used in the UK on oil seed rape, and their toxins remain in the soil for up to a year, or longer over repeated use on a field. This year the EU banned the use of 3 neonicotinoids- but is this enough?

An article in the New Scientist highlights the depth of research on this type of pesticide greatly effecting bumble bee. The toxic residues make their way from the field into hives and greatly affect the number of new queen Bees, and reductions in eggs cell numbers in solidarity bee nests ⁽²⁾. Synthetic Pyrethroids, show great resistance by pests against their anti-feeding mechanism, and are also seen to be degraded by light, lowering their efficiency.

We were greatly surprised to find that 90-95% of winter cereals are sprayed with chemical pesticides, confirmed by a representative of NIAB and Norfolk's regional agronomist, Stephen Keach. This is greatly due to a huge price reduction in recent years due to the massive growth in the pesticide market, multiplying to accommodate the expansion in agriculture worldwide to meet the worlds increasing populations food demand.

On discussion Jonathan saw that the aims of our project, to replace chemical pesticide use, would avoid wiping out populations of beneficial insects, such as the carbide beetle, that current sprays wipe out giving rise to other pest populations. He also saw no reason ethically why farmers would be opposed to using a GM crop in the field- the only barrier being cost comparison against current methods. This is confirmed by a survey by Farmers Weekly, where 61% of the participating farmers favoured growing GM crops on their land ⁽³⁾. Agriculture is a booming economic business, maybe the push for a cleaner, healthier environment needs to be in the form of increased taxation on chemical sprays.

Welsh Environment minister

As part of our survey we explored the cohort’s knowledge on current EU laws surrounding GM crops, and their opinions on a potential change post Brexit negotiations. Currently there is a solid legal frame work followed by EU countries under the commission directive of 2018, that aims to protect all residing populations of humans and animals, requiring safety assessment at EU level prior to a GMO being available to enter the market ⁽⁴⁾. Alongside this, clear labelling is essential to enable all consumers and businesses to be aware of what they are buying.

The UK’s legislation on GM crops aims to protect the environment and people, at present only importuning GMOs but not legally allowing to be grown. According to the Huffington post, “30 million tonnes of GM animal feed is thought to be imported into Europe each year to feed pigs, poultry, dairy and beef cattle, as well as farmed fish. The UK imports an estimated 140,000 tonnes of GM soy bean and as much as 300,000 tonnes of GM maize annually for use as animal feed.” ⁽⁵⁾. So, with a country so reliant in GMOs as imports, why not allow GMO use in the UK's agricultural industry? With recent Brexit negotiations, much speculation around these current laws has come to light in the media. One article stated that post Brexit the UK is offered the chance to take more advantage of GMOs, projecting Brexit will “flood” the country with American GMOs ⁽⁶⁾.

We looked to find a clear answer as to whether Wales specifically would alter the current restriction upon the growing of GMOs. Hannah Blythyn, the Environment Minister told us at approach will remain the same. But we remain optimistic for future change as she believes an open mind should be kept on GM developments, detailed in the PDF below, or downloadable here.

Welsh Beekeepers’ Association

Contacting the Welsh bee keeper’s association was great in finding a clear understanding of the relationship between aphids and honey Bees, as well as the great effect current pesticides have upon bumble populations. Bee harming pesticides are found in 75% of honey worldwide⁽⁷⁾ and newly developed pesticide, Sulfoxaflor used in 47 countries worldwide is currently under review for licencing in the UK. Likely be a replacement to the current Neonics, posing a great threat to bee populations. One experiment saw a reduction in the new generation population of 54% ⁽⁸⁾. It is great to see developments to remove the current toxic and harmful pesticides, but we believe this should not be with another chemical that will not protects beneficial populations such as bumble bees and insects alike.

The WBKA, saw great opportunity in our correspondence and supported our study to demonstrate their capacity to help universities and students in research. To demonstrate this, we have produced an article about our project, and their support, which will be published in the next quarterly magazine.

References

(1) - Gardenorganic.org.uk. (2018). Neonicotinoids | www.gardenorganic.org.uk. [online] Available at: https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/neonicotinoids [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

(2) - Wong, S. (2018). Strongest evidence yet that neonicotinoids are killing bees. [online] New Scientist. Available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2139197-strongest-evidence-yet-that-neonicotinoids-are-killing-bees/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

(3) - Gmfreeme.org. (2018). GM polls in the UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gmfreeme.org/gm-polls-in-the-uk/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

(4) - Food Safety. (2018). GMO legislation - Food Safety - European Commission. [online] Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/gmo/legislation_en [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

(5) - Wasley, A. (2018). Revealed: How Genetically Modified Food Is Finding Its Way Onto Your Dinner Plate. [online] HuffPost UK. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/andrew-wasley/genetically-modified-food_b_4794557.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_cs=Yhmcz_hHNTtLCCbgg74SkA [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

(6) - Hart, R. (2017). Brexit will flood the UK with genetic-modified American food - and it's about time too. [online] politics.co.uk. Available at: http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2017/02/02/don-t-fear-genetic-modified-american-food-it-s-perfectly-saf [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

(7) - Sheridan, K. (2017). Bee-harming pesticides in 75 percent of honey worldwide: study. [online] Phys.org. Available at: https://phys.org/news/2017-10-bee-harming-pesticides-percent-honey-worldwide.html [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

(8) - Brooker, M. (2018). Farming News - New generation of pesticides can reduce bumblebee reproduction. [online] Farming.co.uk. Available at: https://www.farming.co.uk/news/new-generation-of-pesticides-can-reduce-bumblebee-reproduction [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].