Non-Target Arthropods Barely Affected by GM Maize

Researchers from Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and Hungary have developed a mathematical model for calculating the risk posed by genetically modified maize to non-target arthropods. The researchers selected two protected butterfly species (Inachis io and Vanessa atalanta) and the diamond-back moth (Plutella xylostella) for model calculation. Eleven representative European regions growing the genetically modified maize Mon810 were selected to make the model as realistic as possible.

The impacts on butterflies and moths calculated using the model were very small. The maximum mortality rate calculated for peacock and admiral butterflies in all regions was less than one in 1572 individuals. For the diamond-back moth the maximum mortality rate was one in 392. The average mortality rate for all regions was one in 5000 for the two butterfly species, and one in 4367 for the diamond-back moth.

In the paper published by the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers wrote: "Our results suggest that previous estimates (by the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA)…were overly cautious and that mortality and sublethality are about four times less than they estimated."

Download the paper at http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.2091 Read the original story at http://www.gmo-safety.eu/en/news/733.docu.html