Then it was that Monarch butterflies are killed by GM maize. The plants express Bt - a natural insecticide of bacterial origin which some organic farmers spray on to their crops and it is hardly surprising that butterflies are killed when fed such GM maize pollen in the laboratory. But in the field not having to spray chemical insecticides has actually led to an increase in butterflies. Now the latest scare story is that young honey bees can acquire transgenes encoding herbicide resistance from GM pollen and transmit these to microbes living in their gut. This comes from unpublished research of Professor Hans-Hinrich Kaatz from the University of Jena, Germany.
Bacteria can indeed take up DNA from their environment.
But if incorporated, for such DNA to remain there over many generations, another condition, first taught to us by Charles Darwin in 1859, must also be met. To survive natural selection and spread through a population, a newly endowed genetic characteristic must also give an organism that carries it an advantage that allows it to produce more descendants than those that do not. The importance of selection is illustrated in the excessive use of antibiotics both to combat infectious disease in humans and as a food additive to boost growth in livestock. Since the 60s, this has resulted in the new appearance of bacterial pathogens with multiple antibiotic resistance. Soil bacteria produce antibiotics for waging chemical warfare upon their competitors but also have antibiotic resistance genes, to equip them with antidotes against their own toxins.