On September 14, 2001, the National Academy of Sciences released the results of a study that looked at 2 years worth of data from five universities across the United States and Canada. The research was conducted following several claims that Bt corn (a type of corn produced through biotechnology to resist the European corn borer—an insect that destroys corn) was harmful to Monarch butterfly larvae.
The findings show that the most commonly used types of Bt corn have no adverse effects on Monarch butterfly larvae.
The study was funded by a pooled grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, the Agricultural Biotechnology Stewardship Technical Committee (a coalition of companies that produce corn enhanced through biotechnology), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.
The results of the study and the six papers that make up the research are available to the public through the Environmental Protection Agency and on the National Academies of Science Web site, http://www.pnas.org/papbyrecent.shtml.
