Genetically modified crops could be good for the health of insects if
they lead to a reduced use of chemicals. An international bee conference has
heard pesticides and herbicides are the biggest threat to insects like bees
and more research should be done on the benefits and risks of GMOs.
New South Wales Department of Primary Industries' Doug Sommerville
says while European trials show GMO5 are bad for bees, there are
contradicting results in Australia.
"We're actually looking at increasing the window of opportunity of
putting bees on cotton crops in northern NSW because of GMOs," he said.

"Because of the reduced amount of insecticidal use in the crop, it may
offer the opportunity for bees to be moved into that crop and increase the
seed yield, or the crop yield, with the honeybee pollination aspect and bees
may actually get a box of honey out of it."


[www.abc.net.au]