A Critical Assessment of the Effects of Bt Transgenic Plants on Parasitoids

The ecological safety of transgenic insecticidal plants expressing crystal proteins (Cry toxins) from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) continues to be debated. Much of the debate has focused on nontarget organisms, especially predators and parasitoids that help control populations of pest insects in many crops. Although many studies have been conducted on predators, few reports have examined parasitoids but some of them have reported negative impacts. None of the previous reports were able to clearly characterize the cause of the negative impact. In order to provide a critical assessment, we used a novel paradigm consisting of a strain of the insect pest, Plutella xylostella (herbivore), resistant to Cry1C and allowed it to feed on Bt plants and then become parasitized by Diadegma insulare, an important endoparasitoid of P. xylostella. Our results indicated that the parasitoid was exposed to a biologically active form of the Cy1C protein while in the host but was not harmed by such exposure. Parallel studies conducted with several commonly used insecticides indicated they significantly reduced parasitism rates on strains of P. xylostella resistant to these insecticides. These results provide the first clear evidence of the lack of hazard to a parasitoid by a Bt plant, compared to traditional insecticides, and describe a test to rigorously evaluate the risks Bt plants pose to predators and parasitoids

Nutzungsmöglichkeiten von Routinedaten der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung in der Gesundheitsberichterstattung des Bundes

Die Gesundheitsberichterstattung (GBE) des Bundes übernimmt zentrale Aufgaben in der Politikberatung sowie bei der Information der Öffentlichkeit über den Gesundheitszustand und das Gesundheitsverhalten der Bevölkerung. Routinedaten der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherungen (GKV) wurden hierzu bisher wenig genutzt. GKV-Routinedaten ermöglichen Analysen zur Häufigkeit von Krankheiten und Risikofaktoren sowie von Krankheitsverläufen, des Inanspruchnahmeverhaltens von Gesundheitsleistungen und der Mortalität. Vorteile der Nutzung von GKV-Daten für die GBE des Bundes ergeben sich aus der sektorübergreifenden Perspektive und der weitgehenden Abwesenheit von Selektions- und Recall-Bias in der jeweiligen Versicherungspopulation. Zudem ermöglichen es die großen Stichprobenumfänge und die kontinuierliche Erhebung der Daten, selbst bei tiefgliedriger Stratifizierung belastbare Aussagen über den Gesundheitszustand der Versicherten zu treffen. Dem stehen Nachteile, die sich aus dem Abrechnungscharakter der Daten ergeben, sowie die hohen administrativen Hürden im Genehmigungsprozess zur Datennutzung entgegen. Vor dem Hintergrund einer zukünftig vereinfachten Verfügbarkeit von Daten aller GKV-Versicherten für forschende Einrichtungen im Rahmen des Versorgungsstrukturgesetzes stellen GKV-Routinedaten eine interessante Datenbasis für die GBE des Bundes dar.Federal health monitoring deals with the state of health and the health-related behavior of populations and is used to inform politics. To date, the routine data from statutory health insurances (SHI) have rarely been used for federal health monitoring purposes. SHI routine data enable analyses of disease frequency, risk factors, the course of the disease, the utilization of medical services, and mortality rates. The advantages offered by SHI routine data regarding federal health monitoring are the intersectoral perspective and the nearly complete absence of recall and selection bias in the respective population. Further, the large sample sizes and the continuous collection of the data allow reliable descriptions of the state of health of the insurants, even in cases of multiple stratification. These advantages have to be weighed against disadvantages linked to the claims nature of the data and the high administrative hurdles when requesting the use of SHI routine data. Particularly in view of the improved availability of data from all SHI insurants for research institutions in the context of the “health-care structure law”, SHI routine data are an interesting data source for federal health monitoring purposes