A Comprehensive Review of the Environmental Safety of Bt Crops Now Published
A comprehensive review authored by scientists from Switzerland and the United States summarized the existing literature on Bt crops from laboratory and field-based studies. The authors, Jörg Romeis, Steven E. Naranjo, Michael Meissle, and Anthony M. Shelton highlight the contribution of Bt crops to conservation biological control.
The paper published in the journal Biological Control reports that Bt crops have been grown on more than 1 billion acres over the last 20+ years, and on 100 million hectares in 2017 alone. A major concern related to this technology is that the proteins could harm non-target organisms, specifically those that provide important ecosystem services such as biological control. However, studies have proven that proteins from Bt crops did not harm natural enemies. Furthermore, Bt crops support the conservation of natural enemies and contribute to more effective biological control of both target and secondary pests and lead to a reduction in insecticide use…
