From the editor

An Assessment of Relative Risks to Human/Ecological Health Biotech Crops versus Other Human Activities

“…In a report published in Nature in 2001, evidence was presented for cross-breeding of BT maize with unmodified maize in Mexico, thus suggesting that there is a risk of transfer of the transgenic to local varieties and wild germplam [55]. The data in this paper was later described as originating from an artifact, so that the journal Nature later stated, "the evidence available is not sufficient to justify the publication of the original paper" [56,57]. In several future studies, it was unequivocally shown that although pollen transfer from biotech crops to other cultivated or wild species is a reality, but generally the fertilization will fail, and even if it occurs the progeny may not survive or may not be fertile, so that the consequences cannot be alarming.…”