Allan Felsot

Q: is regular use of roundup around apple trees poisoning the apples,, drinking the juice made from them and infecting a persons liver?

Answered By Allan Felsot - Sep 18, 2015

A: Roundup has been used for quite a long time to control weeds in many orchards. It is used near the base of the trees as a directed spray. The trees and their productivity are not harmed by such an application, and careful attention to spray operational practices that avoid drift also results in a prolific growth of mixed vegetation in the row centers, which prevents soil erosion and encourages a proliferation of insect natural enemies that can help with biological control of insect pests. Thus, it is possible to use a herbicide with noted broad spectrum properties successfully i [...]

GMO Basics Health & Safety

Q: Are there already virioids discovered or can be artificially designed, which have harmful effects for humans or insects?

Answered By Allan Felsot - Jun 12, 2017

A: Viroids are very small pieces of circular RNA that have the potential of causing plant diseases. These entities are infectious agents that are different from viruses because they have no protein coat encircling their genetic material. Thus far, viroids are only known to be effective infectious agents in plants. Viroids have not been associated with any animal disease, and they have not been found in animal cells and tissues.    Biotechnological tools are being used in plant breeding to produce cultivars that can resist the infections caused by viroid diseases. Such [...]