Bt corn variety OK for black swallowtails

[Bruce Walsh]

I get a big kick from Losey's (coauthor of the
monarch study) comment that  "It's too early to make sweeping
generalizations."  

In fact, it was the sweeping generalization he made (that BT corn could
pose a real threat to the monarch population) that started  this whole
debate.

Leps-l readers who are not in academics may not know that the journal
(Nature) that the original article appeared in is widely noted for
encouraging authors to make bold provocative statements (which certainly does not
hurt sales of the journal!).

I've been an associate editor for many of the front-line journals in
population biology (Evolution, Genetics, American Naturalist, Genetic
Research) and would have made the original authors remove their statement about
the risk to the monarch unless they were able to justify it with modeling.

Peace

Bruce