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Ecological risk assessment for Bt crops

Nature Biotechnology volume 24, pages 749–751 (2006)Cite this article

A Correspondence to this article was published on 01 July 2006

To the editor:

In their Perspective on commercialized Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin transgenic crops and biological control in the January issue (Nat. Biotechnol. 24, 63–71, 2006), Jörg Romeis et al. draws some conclusions that do not fully and accurately represent the published data, and more importantly make several recommendations for ecological risk assessment (ERA) that are unduly narrow and restrictive. In this letter, we focus on the role of laboratory studies in ERA and discuss the significance of the limitations in their perspective.

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Figure 1: Tritrophic interaction showing Bt plant, herbivore and natural enemy, illustrating the first part of risk hypotheses useful for ERA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology and Center for Community Genetics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, 55108, Minnesota, USA

    David A. Andow

  2. Department of Integrated Pest Management, Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Flakkebjerg Research Centre, Slagelse, DK-4200, Denmark

    Gábor L. Lövei

  3. ENEA National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Environment, Research Centre Trisaia, Rotondella, I-75026, Italy

    Salvatore Arpaia

Authors
  1. David A. Andow
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  2. Gábor L. Lövei
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  3. Salvatore Arpaia
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Andow, D., Lövei, G. & Arpaia, S. Ecological risk assessment for Bt crops. Nat Biotechnol 24, 749–751 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0706-749

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