Heritability of Chilo suppressalis (Walker) tolerance to the Cry1Ab toxin of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner was estimated using a half-sibling design. Artificial diet with and without Cry1Ab was infested with progenies of 20 males, each mated with 2 females, and mortality was scored 5 d after infestation. The progeny of each female was reared and scored separately. Mean mortality of the 20 fam...

Subchronic animal feeding studies to examine the effect on the immune system of genetically modified corn CBH351, which contains the Cry9C protein derived from Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies tolworthi, were conducted in female BN rats and B10A mice. The studies were designed to compare the effect of a line of genetically modified corn CBH351 (GM corn) with that of isoline corn (non-GM corn)....

The first generation of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties sought to increase farmer profitability through cost reductions or higher yields. The next generation of GM food research is focusing also on breeding for attributes of interest to consumers, beginning with ‘golden rice’, which has been genetically engineered to contain a higher level of vitamin A and thereby boost the health of u...

By late in the twentieth century, scientists had succeeded in manipulating organisms at the genetic level, mainly by gene transfer. The major impact of this technology has been seen in the spread of genetically modified (GM) crops, which has occurred with little controversy in some areas and with fierce controversy elsewhere. GM crops raise a very wide range of questions, and I address three ar...

Both cisgenesis and transgenesis are plant breeding techniques that can be used to introduce new genes into plant genomes. However, transgenesis uses gene(s) from a non-plant organism or from a donor plant that is sexually incompatible with the recipient plant while cisgenesis involves the introduction of gene(s) from a crossable--sexually compatible--plant. Traditional breeding techniques coul...

Abstract Background Hundreds of studies on environmental effects genetically modified (GM) crops became available over the past 25 years. For maize producing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), potential adverse non-target organisms are a major area concern and addressed in risk assessments. Reviews meta-analyses have helped various stakeholders to address uncertainties rega...

In the past decade significant scientific progress has been made with the Golden Rice project. Significant increases in carotenoid have been achieved. Micronutrient malnutrition has been recognised as a major factor in total world malnutrition. What could be responsible for the continuing slow progress of the project? The answer may be related to the confluence of three influences on world soci...

The cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera is the major insect pest targeted by cotton genetically engineered to produce the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin (transgenic Bt cotton) in the Old World. The evolution of this pest's resistance to B. thuringiensis toxins is the main threat to the long-term effectiveness of transgenic Bt cotton. A deletion mutation allele (r(1)) of a cadherin gene (Ha_BtR) ...

Pesticides associated to genetically modified foods (PAGMF), are engineered to tolerate herbicides such as glyphosate (GLYP) and gluphosinate (GLUF) or insecticides such as the bacterial toxin bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between maternal and fetal exposure, and to determine exposure levels of GLYP and its metabolite aminomethyl phosphoric a...