Ecol. aspects of transgenic crops summary (fwd)

James J. Kruse kruse at nature.Berkeley.EDU
Wed Apr 19 19:28:49 EDT 2000


On Wed, 19 Apr 2000, Paul Cherubini wrote:

> Jim, I am unaware of any study documenting that even one unmanipulated
> monarch caterpillar feeding on an unmanipulated milkweed plant growing
> as a weed within or near a Bt corn field ever died from exposure to 
> Bt corn pollen.
> 
> Moreover, as the percentage of the Midwest corn crop planted in Bt corn
> rose from roughly  5% in 1997 to 30% in 1999, the size of the 
> overwintering population of monarch butterflies in Mexico has actually
> increased.


I have merely forwarded the executive summary of the meeting in an
unaltered format. I can neither confirm nor deny existence of data
supporting the conclusions expressed therein. I wish certain references
were provided.

*** WARNING *** the following contains a personal opinion *** WARNING ***

Many of those in attendance on both sides (look at who was there) probably
had some sort of agenda to push. I suspect that certain points may have
been conceded for the meeting to progress beyond shouting matches between
factions.

Regards,
Jim Kruse
University of California at Berkeley
Dept. of Environ Sci, Policy and Mgmt.
Div. of Insect Biology
201 Wellman Hall
Berkeley, California, 94720-3112
Voice: (510) 642-7410    Fax: (510) 642-7428
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/sperlinglab/kruse.html


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