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Title: Letter to The Editor: Setting the record straight: a rebuttal to an erroneous analysis on transgenic insecticidal crops and natural enemies.

Author
item SHELTON, ANTHONY - CORNELL UNIV GENEVA NY
item Naranjo, Steven
item ROMEIS, JORG - AG R-T RES STN ZURICH SW
item Hellmich Ii, Richard
item WOLT, JEFFREY - Iowa State University
item FEDERICI, B - University Of California Agriculture And Natural Resources (UCANR)
item ALBAJES, R - Universitat De Lleida
item BURGESS, ELISABETH - Plant And Food Research
item DIVELY, GALEN - University Of Maryland
item GATEHOUSE, ANGHARAD - University Of Newcastle
item MALONE, LOUISE - Plant And Food Research
item ROUSH, RICHARD - University Of Melbourne
item SEARS, M - University Of Guelph
item SEHNAL, FRANTISEK - Academy Of Science Of Czech Republic

Submitted to: Transgenic Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/29/2009
Publication Date: 10/1/2009
Citation: Shelton, A.M., Naranjo, S.E., Romeis, J., Hellmich Ii, R.L. 2009. Letter to The Editor: Setting the record straight: a rebuttal to an erroneous analysis on transgenic insecticidal crops and natural enemies. Transgenic Research (2009) 18:317-322

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A letter to the editor was submitted in reply to an article published in Environmental Entomology by Lovei, Andow and Arpaia entitled “ Transgenic Insecticidal Crops and Natural Enemies: A Detailed Review of Laboratory Studies”. The non-target effects of transgenic insecticidal crops has been a topic of debate for over a decade and a large number of both laboratory and field studies have addressed the issue in numerous countries. The article attempted to compile, summarize and interpret the literature bearing on laboratory studies of toxicity of transgenic plants or the toxins found in these plants. The letter provides a detailed response to three serious limitations of the study: 1) failure to recognize the important role of prey and host-mediated effects on natural enemies which are independent of the toxins presented, 2) the use of inappropriate statistical methods in analyzing the data including the use of non-independent data which artificially inflates any negative or positive response measured, and 3) failure to recognize and acknowledge the ecological relevance of the results of laboratory studies of toxicity to populations of natural enemies and their biological control function in the field. While we completely agree that environmental risk assessments of transgenic insect-resistant crops are critical, we believe the paper by Lövei et al. advocates inappropriate summarization methods and a distorted and incorrect interpretation of the published data on non-target effects.