Citizen science will test hypothesis that wild animals avoid GMO corn

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis.

One frequent Internet claim is that animals refuse to eat transgenic (genetically engineered, “GE” or “GMO”) corn. What if this claim could be tested in transparent, massive, fun experiments that could entertain, teach, and answer a question at the same time?

Anti-biotech author Jeffery Smith also makes the claim. Such concepts have been “liked” or shared tens of thousands of times via some of the Internet’s most scientifically questionable channels. Together with friends at Biology Fortified, we set out to test the hypothesis that animals will not consume GE corn, using hundreds of independent volunteers.

The hypothesis is simple: Wild animals will not consume GE corn. We send you a kit containing everything needed to test the hypothesis. For a small donation to cover costs, the recipient receives materials for two experimental replicates and a stand. The samples are blinded, so the experimenter does not know which is GE and which is the corresponding non-GE isoline. Ears are identified by a barcode that is logged at Biology Fortified International Headquarters to limit any potential bias in the experiment. The samples are then placed in an area of wild animal traffic and images taken at 0 and 24 hours.

If the Internet’s assertions are true, only the GE corn should remain. Kits will be distributed to citizen scientist volunteers in the U.S. You can join the experiment here.

The data obtained will be placed on a freely-accessible website and will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. It is easy to scare people away from food, but science can help fix that.

Read full, original post: Testing The Internet’s Food Claims With Citizen Science

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