This study, carried out by Swiss researchers, found no harmful effects on solitary bees from transgenic plants expressing Bt in the pollen. The authors chose to study Osmia bees, since only the effect of Bt on honey bees had been looked at so far. They point out that different types of bees may have different sensitivities to transgenic methods of crop protection. However, they found that these bees reacted to the transgenic pollen in a similar way to honey bees and were not harmed by it.


> Of the insecticidal proteins tested in the present study, the Bt toxin Cry1Ab is the only one currently expressed in transgenic crops grown commercially. Although the concentration of Bt fed to Osmia bicornis in the present study exceeded that expressed in field-grown Bt crops, no negative effect of Cry1Ab consumption on bee longevity was observed. 

> This is in agreement with studies investigating potential effects of Cry toxins on O. bicornis larvae, adult honey bees and bumblebees confirming the safety record of these toxins for bees. Overall, there is good evidence that the digestive proteinase profile of the solitary bee O. bicornis is generally similar to that of honey bees and bumblebees.

“Impact of transgenic oilseed rape expressing oryzacystatin-1 (OC-1) and of insecticidal proteins on longevity and digestive enzymes of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis.”
Roger Konrad, et al. Agroscope Reckenholz-Tanikon Research Station, Zurich, Switzerland
Journal of Insect Physiology 55 (2009) 305–313

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