There was some media coverage last November when 20 researchers from several universities met near Chicago to present the results of actual field studies of Monarch butterflies. None of those studies have been published yet, because the researchers want to collect two summers worth of data. They will finish this summer. The pollen concentration found on milkweed leaves near cornfields generally isn t sufficient to harm Monarch larvae and other non-target moths and butterflies. Monarchs apparently don't like Bt corn pollen and avoid it when possible.
Cornfields have very little milkweed.
Climatic conditions and other factors greatly reduce exposure to pollen in the wild. New York Times reporter Carol Kaesuk Yoon covered the meeting, but still reported this week, Now, in the first study published on the subject since the debate began, scientists from Iowa State University say plants growing in and near the corn fields are being dusted with enough toxic pollen to kill monarch caterpillars that feed on them. She is technically correct by qualifying the study as published. Shelton says the Iowa State researchers make conclusions that exceed their data and some of their statements are simply off the mark. More detailed and extensive field studies are being done by a group of independent scientists from the U.S. and Canada.