Bee Learning Behaviour Affected by GMO Toxin

Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson

Concerns over bees, especially the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) have rarely been higher. Although there are few hard data there is a general consensus that both solitary and social bee populations are declining and that recently the still-mysterious colony collapse disorder (CCD) has dramatically worsened this situation. No definitive cause for CCD has yet been established but there is widespread agreement that CCD is caused by more than one factor (Calderone, 2008 ; Oldroyd, 2007).
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Effects of GMO Pollen in Waterways

Toxins in transgenic crop byproducts may affect headwater stream ecosystems E. J. Rosi-Marshall, J. L. Tank, T. V. Royer, M. R. Whiles, M. Evans-White, C. Chambers, N. A. Griffiths, J. Pokelsek, and M. L. Stephen PNAS 2007 104: 16204-16208

PNAS Press Release :
Ecological impacts of genetically engineered corn are particularly important because of increased corn demand created by biofuels production

A new study indicates that a popular type of genetically engineered corn–called Bt corn–may damage the ecology of streams draining Bt corn fields in ways that have not been previously considered by regulators. The study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, appears in the Oct. 8 edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Transgenic Bt Maize Pollen Harms Swallowtails

Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson

Pollen from a Bt insect resistant maize is highly toxic to the European common swallowtail butterfly (Papilio Machaon) according to a paper published last week in the journal Basic and Applied Ecology (Lang and Vojtech 2006 Vol. 7 pp296-306; doi:10.1016/j.baae.2005.10.003). The paper found that for first instar caterpillars the LD50 of Bt 176 corn was 14 pollen grains and that for harm to occur required consumption of as few as 5 pollen grains.
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