STACKED GM CORN EFFECTS ON NON-TARGETS ASSESSED

Community.” The paper appears in the latest issue of Environmental Entomology.

Using data from a three year field trial, Dively found that over 500,000 arthropods were present in the plants, air, and soil surface of the corn field. These represented 203 taxonomic groups in 112 families and 13 orders, with 70% of them saprovores, 13% herbivores, 14% predators, and 3% parasitoids. He also found that the densities of the non-target arthropods were not significantly affected by the stacked trait biotech corn. However, some taxa were affected in the Bt only plots, but the effects were still significantly less than disturbances caused by insecticide applications.

Read the complete article at

http://puck.esa.catchword.org/vl=5633566

Stacking of traits in biotech plants, or having more than one special trait in the same plant, is often undertaken by scientists to slow down any resistance which may occur. Such is the objective of VIP-Cry corn, which has both the Bt toxin and the vegetative insecticidal protein. Together, these traits can allow corn to be resistant to the European corn borer, black cutworm, fall armyworm, Southwestern corn borer, and corn earworm. The effects of such combined traits on non-target arthropods however, have not been fully studied. Galen P. Dively of the University of Maryland takes the first step as he looks as the “Impact of Transgenic VIP3A x Cry1Ab Lepidopteran-resistant Field Corn on the Nontarget Arthropod

INDIA MAPS DNA OF BASMATI RICE TO PROTECT IT FROM WEST

AFRICAN PANEL PUSHES FOR BIOTECH AT GRASSROOTS LEVEL

The African Panel on Biotechnology is advising the African Union, an organization of African states, on how to adopt biotechnology to address grassroots development, particularly one that involves local growers and integrates community customs. “Africans Embrace Biotech Future” by The Council of Biotechnology Information (CBI) presents trailblazing biotechnology initiatives that local farmers and institutions in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Uganda have made.

CBI quotes Calestous Juma, former executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity and Panel co-chair, as saying that issues facing African agriculture require an aggressive approach. "Africa must take charge of its future and assess the usefulness of all existing technological options for meeting its needs. The challenge is how to make biotechnology relevant to local needs and how to ensure that existing institutions meet this challenge."

See the CBI article online at

http://www.whybiotech.com/index.asp/id=5266.

GROUND BEETLES USED TO GAUGE BT EFFECTS

Ground beetles are well spread through most agricultural fields. They are generalist predators, and, as such, can be used to show any unintended impacts of pesticide use. With the release of Bt corn possessingColeopteran specific toxins, scientists may be able to use the insects in showing if the crop has effects on non-target arthropods.

 Miriam D. Lopez and colleagues explore the "Utility of Ground Beetle Species in Field Tests of Potential Non-Target Effects of Bt Crops." They aim, among others, to determine which ground beetle species are consistently present in a corn field, specifically in Iowa corn; and test such species for differences in abundance which might be caused by transgenic corn or traditional pest management practices.

Researchers trapped the beetles and tallied their numbers in fields of Bt corn and conventional corn fields treated with insecticides. They found that Harpalus pensylvanicus DeGeer is the most abundant. The same species was not affected by Bt corn use, but increased in numbers in insecticide treated plots.

Read more at: http://titania.esa.catchword.org/vl=9780304/cl=28/nw=1/rpsv/cw/esa/0046225x/v34n5/s35/p1317

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