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    After years of assurance that genetically engineered (GE) crops are the answer to pesky pest problems, corn rootworm is now turning into a nightmare for America’s agricultural biotech companies.

 These insects have developed resistance to an inserted gene in the genetically altered corn crop that is designed to kill them.

 In a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 22 of the nation’s top experts on corn pests are calling for the agency to take action “with a sense of some urgency.”i

 The researchers want seed companies to stop routinely inserting anti-rootworm genes into their corn lines.

 Overuse of the gene increases the chances that insects will become resistant to it.

 According to the NPRii:

    
“The researchers are calling on farmers in some parts of the country to stop planting corn with anti-rootworm genes altogether, or to plant such corn only intermittently …

     If the recommendations in this letter were, in fact, put into practice, it would compel wrenching changes in the way that major seed companies like Monsanto and DuPont breed and market their corn seed.”