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P A N U P S
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
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Action Alert: Monsanto's Latest GE Corn
February 28, 1999
In August 1999, Monsanto petitioned the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to approve a new variety of corn genetically
engineered to kill corn rootworms, important pests in the U.S. Corn
Belt. The corn has been engineered to produce a specific toxin
originally derived from a soil microorganism, bacillus thuringiensis
(Bt). Bt corn varieties that have been grown commercially in the
United States since 1996 target European corn borers, whose adult
stage is a moth. Monsanto's new variety of Bt corn is the first to
target corn rootworms, whose adult stage is a beetle. The Union of
Concerned Scientists (UCS) calls on EPA to deny approval of
Monsanto's new corn variety because of inadequate testing for
environmental impacts and lack of a credible resistance-management
strategy.
EPA is reviewing company data on the new crop and is expected to
make a decision later this year whether or not to allow the Bt-corn
seeds on the market. The public comment period on the application
ends March 20. Write to EPA and urge the Agency to deny Monsanto's
application.
Corn rootworms have become major pests in some parts of the Corn
Belt--costing growers hundreds of millions of dollars each year in
reduced yields and insecticide use. For the last few decades, many
farmers have kept corn rootworms under control by using either
insecticides or rotating corn and soybeans. The two-crop rotation
held the rootworms in check because the adults laid eggs in corn
fields and then died off when that field was rotated to soybeans.
Recently, however, some of the pests have adapted to the two-crop
rotation by laying their eggs in soybean fields so the worms have a
ready food source the next summer when the field is rotated to corn.
Past control of corn rootworms by alternating corn and soybeans is a
testament to the power of crop rotation to suppress pests, although
sustainable farmers generally recommend three-to-six-year rotations
as a more effective method. Had multiple-crop rotations rather than
continuous corn or two-crop rotations been the norm the past few
decades, corn rootworms would in all likelihood not be the problem
they are today.
Action: Write EPA and tell them not to approve commercialization of
Bt corn targeted at rootworms because:
1. Monsanto has submitted only an outline of a resistance-management
strategy. Because rootworms present different problems than corn
borers, the company will need to do considerably more research
before it can devise a comprehensive plan to delay the evolution of
resistance to Bt in corn rootworms.
2. Monsanto has not submitted data needed to conduct a rigorous
ecological risk assessment. For example, the company submission does
not contain sufficient data to evaluate potential impacts of
Bt-toxin-containing root exudates on soil beetles.
3. The Agency itself does not yet have in place a strong program to
ensure that all potential environmental impacts of Bt crops are
fully evaluated. Public confidence in EPA's ability to protect
against the risks of engineered crops was badly shaken last summer
when the Agency failed to even note the possible effects of Bt-corn
pollen on monarch butterflies. Before it approves any more Bt crops,
the Agency must establish a scientifically credible framework for
ecological risk assessment.
Send comments before March 20 to:
Public Information and Records Integrity Branch (PIRIB)
Information resources and Services Division (7502C)
Office of Pesticide Programs/EPA, 401 M St., SW, Washington, DC
20460
or
Include the docket control number OPP-30487 on all correspondence.
Source/contact:
Union of Concerned Scientists, 1616 P St., NW, Suite 310,
Washington, DC 20036; phone (202) 332-0900; fax (202) 332-0905;
http://www.ucsusa.org.
For further information:
* Gray, M.E. "Prescriptive Use of Transgenic Hybrids for Corn
Rootworms: An Ominous Cloud on the Horizon?" Crop Protection
Technology Conference, January 5-6, 2000, sponsored by University of
Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
http://www.biotech-info.net/rootworm.html.
* Institute for Agricultural Trade and Policy, Science and
Environmental Health Network, and Consumer Policy
Institute/Consumers Union, "Comments Submitted to Docket Number
OPP-50864: Application for an Experimental Use Permit for Cry3Bb
Transgenic Corn," January 7, 2000.
http://www.biotech-info.net/rootworm.html.
* Saxena, D. et al., "Insecticidal toxin in root exudates from Bt
corn," Nature 402:480, 1999.
http://www.nature.com/server-java/Propub/nature/402480A0.pdf.
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