GM crops only kill harmful insects

26 August 1999

GM crops ‘only kill harmful insects’

SCIENTISTS from the Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR) claim that genetically modified (GM) crops designed to kill insect pests have no detrimental effect on beneficial insects.

The researchers say GM crops are potentially more beneficial to wildlife than conventional spraying with pesticides.

The finding contradicts work published earlier this year – and widely publicised – which showed that GM pollen can harm the endangered monarch butterfly.

The IACR scientists investigated the effects of feeding diamond-back moth larvae with oilseed rape modified with a toxin derived from bacillus thuringiensis bactera.

• EU ministers block GM licensing, FWi, 25 June, 1999
• Butterfly-killer GM maize not for UK? FWi, 25 May, 1999
• The Independent 26/08/99 page 7
  
• Financial Times 26/08/99 page 11 (Technology Worth Watching)