July 2022 FloridAgriculture eNewsletter

A study recently published revealed data that showed genetically modified Bt corn has little effect on non-target insects and other organisms. The study, published by Michael Meissle, Steven E. Naranjo and Jörg Romeis, is a culmination of data pulled from studies published over the last 25 years. The studies came from various credible databases, webpages and reference sections of review articles.  

Bt corn has been genetically modified to produce proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. This bacterium controls corn borers, corn rootworms and other major pests that are a threat to corn. Since Bt corn was first approved in 1996, critics have suggested that it can also destroy beneficial insects or other non-targeted organisms.  

The result of the trio’s research proved Bt corn is a highly selective pest control and has few negative consequences for non-target organisms. 

In addition to their findings, the largest pool of high-quality data any scientist has ever analyzed was created. It consisted of 7,729 individual records from 233 experiments in 120 articles. The complete data set has been published in BMC Research Notes.