It is a way to control weeds and pests by introducing a natural enemy or predator into the environment. Biological control (biocontrol) uses one living organism to control another. The high specificity of Bt crops provides a new cornerstone for biological control and sustainable agriculture that will enable both to expand during this century. We explain what biological control agents are, how they work, and our role in ensuring they are safe for Aotearoa New Zealand. Numerous laboratory and field studies have shown that these crops are cost-effective and much safer than synthetic chemical insecticides for the environment and non-target organisms. Despite these failures, research on insect pathogens led to the development of transgenic insect-tolerant Bt crops, arguably the most important advance in pest control technology of the latter half of the 20th century. Viruses, fungi, and protozoa are used in only a few niche markets, and thus have largely failed as microbial insecticides, and will continue to fail until more efficacious mass production methods are developed. Bt’s success, in essence, is due to its ease of mass production by fermentation on inexpensive media, which facilitated commercialization. Moreover, even as insecticides, only Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been a commercial success. With few exceptions, they are not effective as classical biological control agents. A biological control agent is an organism, such as an insect or plant disease, that is used to control a pest species. Pathogens of insects have been under evaluation as biological control agents for more than a century.
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