Corn farmers will be able to use these new transgenic corn hybrids that do produce their own insecticide. The will express a protien that that is toxic to many Lepidopterous insects, larvae of some species of moths and butterflies. The protien is normally produced by a soil bacteria, _Bacillus thuringiensis_. This particular protien is highly selective and acts as a stomach poison for those insects just mentioned. Here at UK and other universities they have looked at the effects on other insects (non lepidopterous) that feed on the pollen and to my knowledge have found no effect. Currently, these new trangenetic hybrids are all field corn types, not sweet corn. In my opinion, this should have a positive effect on honey bees. There should be less application of broad spectrum (read that as potentially more toxic to honey bees) insecticides on corn during pollen shed. Hopefully, fewer losses by beekeepers like yourself. As for the trangenic soybeans, these are tolerant to the herbicide Roundup. Growers using these new varieties would be more likely to use one or two applications of this herbicide during the growing season. Ric Bessin Extension Entomologist Department of Entomology University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40546-0091 (606) 257-7456 FAX (606) 323-1120 [log in to unmask]