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Literature Review on Genetically Modified Plants and Bee Products

MAF Technical Paper No: 2002/05

Report prepared for MAF Policy
by Louise A Malone

HortResearch Client Report No. 2002/440
Contract No. 17486

ISSN no: 1171-4662
ISBN no: 0-478-07679-7

This report should not be circulated outside of HortResearch without the permission of the authors.

June 2002

HortResearch Corporate Office
Tennent Drive, Private Bag 11030
Palmerston North, NZ

Tel: +64-6-351 7000
Fax: +64-6-354 0075

Louise Malone
HortResearch Mt Albert
120 Mt Albert Road, Private Bag 92169
Mt Albert, Auckland, NZ

Tel: +64-9-815 4200
Fax: +64-9-815 4201

HortResearch has prepared this literature review in accordance with reasonable standards of scientific endeavour. HortResearch has no control over its use by third parties and it accepts no responsibility for use of the review by third parties, and in no circumstance shall HortResearch have any liability to any third party.

This report has been prepared by The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd (HortResearch) which has its Head Office at Batchelar Research Centre, Private Bag 11 030, Palmerston North and has been approved by:

Research Scientist                   Portfolio Manager

Contents

• Executive Summary
• 1. Introduction
• 2. GM Material in Plant Parts Collected by Bees
  • 2.1 Potential for GM Material to be Collected by Bees
    • 2.1.1 Pollen
    • 2.1.2 Nectar
    • 2.1.3 Plant resins and gums
    • 2.1.4 Plant sap and honeydew
  • 2.2 Records of GM Material in Bee Products
• 3. Legal Standards and Labelling Requirements for GM Material in Bee Products
  • 3.1 GM Food Labelling
  • 3.2 Organic Honey Standards
• 4. Minimising Inclusion of GM Material in Bee Products
  • 4.1 GM Crop Plants That Could be Sources of Bee Forage in New Zealand
  • 4.2 Relevance of Cross-pollination Studies with GM Plants
  • 4.3. Strategies to Minimise Inclusion of GM Material in Bee Products
    • 4.3.1 Separation of flowering GM crops and hives
      • 4.3.1.1 Bee foraging distances
      • 4.3.1.2 Accidental inclusion of wind-borne pollen in bee products
      • 4.3.1.3 Feasibility of the crop/bee separation approach
    • 4.3.2 Screening the crop to exclude bees
    • 4.3.3 Bee management techniques to direct bees to visit particular crops
      • 4.3.3.1 Bee attractants and other methods to maximise foraging on a crop
      • 4.3.3.2 Bee repellents and other methods to prevent bee visits to a crop
    • 4.3.4 Biotechnological solutions
      • 4.3.4.1 Modification of chloroplast DNA
      • 4.3.4.2 GM plants without pollen
      • 4.3.4.3 GM plants without flowers
    • 4.3.5 Post-harvest honey treatments
• 5. Market Reaction to Honey from Countries where GM Crops are Grown
  • 5.1 Market Reaction to Honey from Canada
  • 5.2 Market Reaction to Honey from Argentina, the United States and Australia
• 6. Potential Impacts of GM Plants on Bee Health
  • 6.1 Direct Effects of Novel Proteins on Bees
  • 6.2 Indirect Effects of GM Plants on Bees
  • 6.3 Current and Future Research
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Table 1. Expression of novel proteins in pollen of GM plants.
• Table 2. NZ crops which could be genetically modified and their relevance to honey bees.
• Table 3. Effects of novel proteins and GM plants on bees
• Appendix 1. New Zealand Horticultural Crops: Modes of pollination and value of honey bees.
• Download this document as a PDF file [242K PDF]

Contact for Enquiries

Dr Sharon Adamson
Manager, Innovation Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND

Phone: +64 4 894 0618
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0741
Contact this person