Dee Lusby quotes:

> The fact that bees are staying away from fields cultivated with
genetically modified organisms and the consequent reduction in pollination
is a scientific alarm for agriculture and the environment

This would be a lot more interesting if the writer backed up "the fact" with
a link to the actual report but she doesn't. Turns out, as usual, the
situation is a bit more complicated than this presentation of it. First off,
the study is only about rapeseed ("canola"). Second, it isn't only GM plants
the bees stay away from but "conventional" crops as well. Third, the authors
freely admit that "little is known". For example, we don't know if the
effect is caused by the plants, the crop method, the herbicides used, or the
abundance of weeds in the organic fields. These authors wisely state "little
is known" -- rather than presenting the information as a "fact".

QUOTE
> The ecological impacts of agriculture are of concern, especially with
genetically modified and other intensive, modern cropping systems, yet
little is known about effects on wild bee populations and subsequent
implications for pollination. Pollination deficit (the difference between
potential and actual pollination) and bee abundance were measured in
organic, conventional, and herbicide-resistant, genetically modified (GM)
canola fields (Brassica napus and B. rapa) in northern Alberta, Canada, in
the summer of 2002. ... There was no pollination deficit in organic fields,
a moderate pollination deficit in conventional fields, and the greatest
pollination deficit in GM fields. Bee abundance was greatest in organic
fields, followed by conventional fields, and lowest in GM fields. <

FROM:

WILD BEE ABUNDANCE AND SEED PRODUCTION IN CONVENTIONAL, ORGANIC, AND
GENETICALLY MODIFIED CANOLA by Lora A. Morandin, and Mark L. Winston

Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University
Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada

© Copyright by Ecological Society of America 2005

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