According to a recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists, corn rootworms may be evolving rapidly to develop a tolerance to GMO corn. Aaron Gassmann, an Iowa State University entomologist, warns that management practices have left the nation’s corn supply vulnerable to the pests, which are supposed to be unable to feed on the three varieties of GMO corn currently in use.
So-called BT corn was introduced in 1996 and contains genes of the Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria, making it poisonous to rootworms and corn borers. USDA says BT corn constitutes 75 percent of the nation’s corn crop. Consuming Bacillus thuringiensis should cause the cell walls in rootworms’ bodies to break down, resulting in death from septicemia.