We're just adding a new threat to the environment. But Shelton says it's Losey and Obrycki who have misinterpreted the extent of the threat. His preferred analogy is popcorn. Eating that much salted popcorn is simply not a real-world situation, but if I died it might be reported that salted popcorn was lethal. The same thing holds for monarch butterflies and pollen.
Scientists have a duty to be incredibly responsible for developing realistic studies.
In my mind, it would be irresponsible to have the results that we did, that there could be this mortality rate, and not publish it. It may be fitting that the debate would come home to roost at Cornell, the birthplace of the device that paved the way for genetic engineering. Mistrust of bioengineered foods is particularly high in Europe, where the populace seems less inclined to place its faith in technology than Americans are. Eighteen years ago in France the regulators of their blood supply allowed distribution of HIV-contaminated blood. That didn't happen in the U.S. where we use science-based regulation.