Experiment with Suspected GM Soy and Tenebrio Molitor: Day 1

Would you be willing to take the time and expense to avoid GM foods unless you were sure that GM food was a problem in your area? Who wants to give up all processed food and restaurant food? Most GM products end up hidden in either processed or restaurant food ingredients.

We visited Community Natural Foods in Calgary to compare prices and selection against our regular stores. While I was pleasantly surprised with the costs of some items (goat milk feta cheese was cheaper at Community Natural Foods than what I'd seen at either Coop or Basha Foods), it became apparent we'd be paying significantly more for common items.

While it certainly feels good to buy organic and local, it requires commitment. So we decided to run an inexpensive experiment that would pit a suspected GM food against its organic equivalent to bolster our commitment.

The experimental animals would be mealworms. (What would people think of me if I experimented on mice or rats?) The mealworms (Tenebrio Molitor) from a local pet store would be kept in two separate containers. Their living conditions would be identical in all but one respect: one set of mealworms would be fed ground organic soybean meal from Community Natural Foods bulk supply and the other would be fed soybean meal that was suspected to be genetically modified (GM).

Today, I set up the experimental containers, complete with mealworms and bathroom tissue for bedding. The container that will test suspected GM soy has been labelled with a triangle and "?GM".

Yes, I cut pantyhose to allow air flow into the containers and secured each patch with rubber bands. Since this is Day 1 and I want these mealworms in prime shape, I gave each side the peel of a ripe kiwi for Vitamin C and fluids. Each container was given exactly 59 mealworms, chosen randomly from the same plastic tub from the pet store, so that each side would have both smaller and larger, friskier and less frisky. The only discrimination was to remove any mealworms that looked dead or dying (less than five, so this was a good batch). The bran from the pet store tub was sprinkled into each container so they won't starve before I have time to pound each type of soy with a mortar and pestle into coarse meal. (I plan to pound the soy tonight, but don't know how long it will take to turn it into a flour-like meal.)

Mealworms aren't exactly photogenic, but here's an honest closeup.

What I hope to determine is whether or not the suspected GM soy is really GM or not. I will be using bulk supply soybeans from Superstore. They look identical to the other dried organic soybeans, so I have labelled each bag to avoid confusion. Both Canadian and US Soy is about 90% GM, so there's a very good chance the suspected GM soybeans will contain some level of BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) toxin that will probably kill the mealworms. The bulk soybeans are not labelled according to their country of origin, but I'm going to guess it's from either Canada or the US. GM soybeans have quite a number of genetic modifications, so I would be interested to see what happens to the mealworms consuming each type of soy and how long that process takes. To compare: BTK biocontrol from Home Depot sprayed on my saskatoon berry shrubs kills leaf roller caterpillars in 2-5 days.

Of course, a diet of soybean meal alone wouldn't be good for most creatures, so if I supplement, I will supplement each side equally, and record this in my notes.

By the end of the experiment, I will know whether or not the usual generic (non-organic) soybeans that I would buy to make natto, for example, are most probably GM.