Monarch BT Corn Pollen Impact - Research Priorities

[Paul Cherubini]

Chip Taylor wrote:

WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT:

1. the Bt corn hybrids (there are many and they don't all have the same
toxicity)

2. the LD50's of different Bt's in pollen and how do these vary with
concentration

3. the temporal and spatial distribution of corn pollen 

4. the half life of the Bt toxicity

5.  the distribution and abundance of milkweeds and monarchs    within
and adjacent to Bt corn fields.

6. the relationship of corn  pollen shedding with latitude and season
and how  this intersects with the different monarch generations.

7. the size of the migratory population be more greatly impacted if
larvae are exposed to Bt pollen before 25 July or after this date?

Chip and the Cornell researchers failed to ask the one most fundamental
common sense impact question of all:

1. Is it possible to EVER find a substantial proportion of the millions
of square miles of the MidWest's milkweeds coated with a layer of Bt
pollen dust as thick as the layer used in the Cornell study?  

If the answer to this very basic, non-technical question is no, how is
it conceivable that the Bt corn pollen could affect Midwestern monarch
populations in a substantial way?

 Chip has twice failed to answer that fundamental question too

Paul Cherubini, Placerville, California