Monsanto Canada recently reported that the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency (CFIA) has granted approval for its latest GM
offering, the intriguingly named "refuge in a bag" Bt corn. With
all the hype surrounding GM crops, it would be easy to dismiss
this announcement as just another piece of press puff from the
GM giant. But unfortunately this new development is actually
something we need to keep a close eye on. As we have come to
expect, the government has let the GM community police itself,
leaving the companies that are peddling the new technology to
regulate its use. First, it is important to understand what a
"refuge" is when it comes to GM crops. Despite the fact that
Animal Welfare Approved has blogged extensively on the many
drawbacks and dangers of GM technology, the concept of "refuge"
actually relates to a problem that we haven't covered in detail
before -- namely the inevitable development of pest resistance
to GM crops. The requirement for a "refuge" arose because it is
widely accepted that pest i