> Is this one of "those" studdies?  Anyweight behind it at all?
Hi Ian

> Is this one of "those" studdies?  Anyweight behind it at all?

These stories surface from time to time, and as far as I can make out they are untrue.  Back in 2000 there were posts on Bee-L that speculated that AFB resistance to antibiotics might be due to GM crops, and that GM crops can cause bee disorientation.  One poster suggested that editors of bee magazines should propagate the story (something that had happened previously anyway) and that brought my head up above the parapet as you can see in the archives:

http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0011A&L=bee-l&P=R1794

If you want the short version, French researchers added anti-insect proteins to artificial bee diets (as their GM lines didn't make enough in pollen to give an effect) and these artificial diets did cause disorientation.

As far as I know, no GM crop has ever had this effect.  If anyone knows otherwise, I'd be glad to hear about it as I'm giving a talk to beekeepers on this topic in Glasgow tomorrow night!

all the best

Gavin

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