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Question: what is the species that BT corn is designed to kill?

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 29th, 2007 at 11:06:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Bt Corn is used to kill European Corn Borer (Ostrinia nubilalis Huebner). This brown moth is a serious pest on corn in southern Europe, where more than one generation per year is possible. In northern Switzerland and southern Germany, only one generation can develop each year. Northern Germany and the Netherlands have no significant problem with this pest.

Bt Corn is used in Spain (about 12% of all corn) but not on any significant scale in other European countries. Studies have not shown any dramatic impact on the environment, but the jury is still out on this (ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS: TEN YEARS OF FIELD RESEARCH AND COMMERCIAL CULTIVATION
Olivier Sanvido, Michèle Stark, Jörg Romeis and Franz Bigler December, 2006) I can recommend this study (you can find it at http://www.isb.vt.edu/articles/dec0603.htm) because I know the scientists and they are serious researchers not working for Monsanto or Greenpeace.

by bastiaan on Tue Apr 3rd, 2007 at 06:54:38 PM EST
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