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Research Article

Impact of Bt corn pollen on monarch butterfly populations: A risk assessment

Mark K. Sears, Richard L. Hellmich, Diane E. Stanley-Horn, Karen S. Oberhauser, John M. Pleasants, Heather R. Mattila, Blair D. Siegfried, and Galen P. Dively
  1. *Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1; ‡United States Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service, Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research Unit and Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011; §Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108; ¶Department of Zoology and Genetics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011; ‖Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583; and **Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

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PNAS October 9, 2001 98 (21) 11937-11942; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.211329998
Mark K. Sears
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Richard L. Hellmich
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Diane E. Stanley-Horn
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Karen S. Oberhauser
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John M. Pleasants
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Heather R. Mattila
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Blair D. Siegfried
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Galen P. Dively
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  1. Edited by M. R. Berenbaum, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL, and approved August 17, 2001 (received for review June 28, 2001)

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Abstract

A collaborative research effort by scientists in several states and in Canada has produced information to develop a formal risk assessment of the impact of Bt corn on monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations. Information was sought on the acute toxic effects of Bt corn pollen and the degree to which monarch larvae would be exposed to toxic amounts of Bt pollen on its host plant, the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, found in and around cornfields. Expression of Cry proteins, the active toxicant found in Bt corn tissues, differed among hybrids, and especially so in the concentrations found in pollen of different events. In most commercial hybrids, Bt expression in pollen is low, and laboratory and field studies show no acute toxic effects at any pollen density that would be encountered in the field. Other factors mitigating exposure of larvae include the variable and limited overlap between pollen shed and larval activity periods, the fact that only a portion of the monarch population utilizes milkweed stands in and near cornfields, and the current adoption rate of Bt corn at 19% of North American corn-growing areas. This 2-year study suggests that the impact of Bt corn pollen from current commercial hybrids on monarch butterfly populations is negligible.

Footnotes

    • ↵† To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: msears{at}evb.uoguelph.ca.

    • This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.

  • Abbreviations

    Bt,
    Bacillus thuringiensis;
    USDA–ARS,
    U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service;
    EPA,
    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
    LOEC,
    lowest-observable-effect-concentration
    • Received June 28, 2001.
    • Copyright © 2001, The National Academy of Sciences
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    Impact of Bt corn pollen on monarch butterfly populations: A risk assessment
    Mark K. Sears, Richard L. Hellmich, Diane E. Stanley-Horn, Karen S. Oberhauser, John M. Pleasants, Heather R. Mattila, Blair D. Siegfried, Galen P. Dively
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct 2001, 98 (21) 11937-11942; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.211329998

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    Impact of Bt corn pollen on monarch butterfly populations: A risk assessment
    Mark K. Sears, Richard L. Hellmich, Diane E. Stanley-Horn, Karen S. Oberhauser, John M. Pleasants, Heather R. Mattila, Blair D. Siegfried, Galen P. Dively
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct 2001, 98 (21) 11937-11942; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.211329998
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    • Bt or not Bt: Is that the question?
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