Bacillus thuringiensis resistance management: experiences from the USA

Abstract

The role of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the regulation of Bt crops is discussed with an emphasis on resistance management. A stochastic bioeconomic simulation model is presented to show how previous analyses of insectresistance management (IRM) policy can be improved by including the effect of farmer adoption and compliance behaviour on the evolution of Bt resistance. An example shows that the traditional assumptions of full adoption and compliance overestimate the risk of Bt resistance. However, since adoption and compliance behaviour have countervailing effects on the evolution of resistance, the result should be interpreted with caution until better information is available on farmer adoption and compliance behaviour