Advances in safety studies of soil Bt toxin proteins released from transgenic Bt crops

Commercialized transgenic Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) crops are permitted for field growth in a large scale, which leads to significant issues of ecological risk assessment in soil ecosystem. In this paper, some general safety problems involving in the soil Bt active toxins released from insect-resistant transgenic Bt crops in the forms of plant residues, root exudates and pollens were reviewed, including their adsorption by soil active-particles, their insecticidal activity, persistence, and biodegradation by soil microbes, and their effects on soil organisms.