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Excerpted from B.A. Palevitz and Lewis, R. 1999October 11. In Bt Football, It's Cornell vs Cornell. The Scientist 13(20): 8. Additional citation information at http://www.the-scientist.com
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When John Losey's research team reported that pollen from corn transgenic for an insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein poisons monarch caterpillars fed dusted milkweed leaves in the laboratory, new calls to curb GM crops followed close on the heels of uncritical media reports.[1] Baby food, beer, and even puppy food soon fell victim. To top it off, one of the biggest dominos of all. Archer Daniels Midland, asked U.S. farmers to segregate GM from non-GM corn and soybeans. And Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' early-September announcement of plans to revise GM food safety guidelines was partially spurred by the Losey report. Like the TV battery bunny, the story kept going and going. It apparently is not over yet.
In a recent commentary, Anthony Shelton and Richard Roush sharply criticize Losey's study.[2] Fearing that they will, in Shakespeare's words, "stuff the ears of men with false reports," Shelton and Roush fault Losey and others for "what can only be considered a preliminary laboratory study ... that few entomologists or weed scientists familiar with butterflies or corn production (and the control of milkweed) give credence to." Moreover, "the public and its policymakers have reacted in a knee-jerk fashion."
A good cat fight would be enough fun for most people, but there's more. Not only are losey and Shelton both a Cornell University, they're in the same graduate entomology program, though Shelton works in Geneva, not ithaca. Losey is an assistant professor and Shelton a professor. Adding to the irony, both articles appeared in magazines published by Nature. And in what looks like a best of two worlds strategy. Cornell issued news releases hyping both articles.
In a release issued in advance of his May 20 publication data, Losey warned that Bt pollen "could represent a serious risk to populations of monarchs." Coauthor Linda Rayor called their work "a warning bell." The announcement acknowledged that transgenic crops could reduce pesticide use and that habitat destruction also threatens monarchs. What was lost was perspective: Both are probably much more of a problem than Bt pollen.
Cornell regrouped four months later in a news release for the commentary, in which Shelton urges the public not to be swayed by "laboratory reports that, when looked at with a critical eye, may not have any reality in the field or even in the laboratory. Scientists need to make assessments that are pertinent to the real world."
Oh, to be at the next graduate entomology faculty meeting....
1. J.J.E. Losey et al., "Transgenic pollen harms monarch larvae,": Nature, 399: 214, May 20, 1999
2. A.M. Shelton and R. Roush, "False reports and the ears of men," Nature Biotechnology, 17: 832, September 1999.
Updated: Thursday, September 6, 2007.
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