Geese avoiding GM Soybeans
A flock of geese visit an Illinois pond each year and feed on soybeans from a nearby 50-acre field. The year the farmer planted GM soybeans on half the field, he was shocked to discover that the geese ate only from the non-GM side. There was a line right down the middle of his field with the natural beans on one side and the genetically engineered beans, untouched by the geese, on the other. Agricultural write C. F. Marley reported, “I’ve never seen anything like it. What’s amazing is that the field with Roundup Ready beans had been planted with conventional beans the previous year, and the geese ate them. This year they won’t go near that field.” (Mark Newhall, “He Say’s Geese Don’t Like Roundup Ready Beans,” Farm Show 24.no 5-2000.)
Cattle avoiding GM Corn
In 1998, Iowa farmer Howard Vlieger filled one side of his sixteen-foot trough with the Bt corn and dumped non-GM corn on the other. When he let his cows into the pen, they all congregated on the side with the natural corn. When it was gone they nibbled a bit on the Bt, but quickly changed their minds and walked away. (Howard Vleiger, Personal communication with Jeffery M. Smith author, 2003)
Inspired by this story, several farmers in Northwest Iowa conducted their own tests. They let two or three cows into the feeding area at a time. The cows came to the first trough containing Bt corn, sniffed it and withdrew. They then walked over to the next trough and finished off the non-GM corn. Some would then go back for a sniff or taste of the Bt variety, but then walk away. This same scenario was repeated by both cows and pigs over and over again on six or seven farms in 1998 and again in 1999. (Bill Lashmett, personal communication with Jeffery M. Smith author, 2003)
After a 2000 campaign speech to farmers by Al Gorse, Vlieger told the presidential candidate about his cow’s preference for non-GM corn. Gore asked if other farmers noticed that their animals responded differently to GM food. About 12 to 15 hands went up. (Vliegers,pers.comm.)
Cattle even broke through a fence and walked through a field of Roundup Ready corn in order to consume the non-GM variety on the other side. (Steve Sprinkel, “When corn hits the Fan.”)
Squirrels avoiding GM corn
A retired Iowa farmer fed squirrels through the winter months by placing corncobs on feeders. One year, he put non-GM corn in one feeder and Bt in another about 20 feet away. The squirrels ate all the corn off the natural cobs but didn’t tough the Bt. Each time the farmer refilled the feeder with natural corn, it was soon gone. The Bt remained untouched, Out of curiosity, he didn’t refill the natural corn. During the coldest days of winter, the Bt cob remained intact, After about 10 days, the squirrels ate about an inch off the tip of an ear, but that’s all. The farmer felt sorry for the squirrels and put natural corn back into the feeders, which the squirrels once again consumed. (Vlieger,pers.comm.)
Raccoons avoiding GM corn
Raccoons devoured organic corn, but didn’t touch the Bt variety growing down the road. (Sprinkel, “When Corn hits the Fan”)
Mice avoiding GM corn
Mice consumed a pile of non-GM corn in a barn in Holland, but left the GM pile nearby untouched.
A Dutch undergraduate student offered mice a choice between Gm and non-GM , mixture of corn and soy. Over a nine-week period, the mice consumed 61% non-Gm and 39% GM food. When forced half them mice to eat only GM and the other half to eat non-GM, the GM group ate more food, gained less weight, and “seemed less active wile in their cages.” When picked up to be weighed at the end of the experiment, he said that the GM-fed mice were “more distressed….Many were running round and round the basket, scrabbling desperately in the sawdust, and even frantically jumping up the sides, something I’ve never seen before.” ( Hinze Hogenfoorn, “Genetically Modified Corn (Zea mays) and Soya (Glycine soja or Their Natural Varieties-Do Muce Have a Preference?” www.talk2000.nl/mice/talk-Exended.htm )
Elk avoids GM corn
A couple in Minnesota reported, “A captive elk escaped and took up residence in our crops of organic corn and soy. It had total access to the neighboring fields of GM crops, but never went into them.” (Mexiani and Warwic, “Seeds of Doubt.”)
Rats avoiding GM Tomatoes
The Washington Post reported tat rodents, usually happy to munch on tomatoes, turned their noses up at the genetically modified FlavrSavr tomato that scientists were so anxious to test on them. Calgene CEO Roger Salquist said of his tomato, “I gotta tell you, you can be Chef Boyardee and…[they] are still not going to like them.” (Rick Weiss, “Biotech Food Raises a Crop of Questions,” Washington Post, 15AUG99: A1) These rates had to be force-fed the tomatoes through gastric tubes, several developed stomach lesions; 7 of 40 died within two weeks.
[This information taken from Genetic Roulette by: Jeffrey M. Smith page-59]
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