Controversy Begins Over New Monsanto Bt Cry3Bb Protectant
[The word Protectant Means Pesticide - who are the "acceptable risks" for this frankenfood? The only thing Monsanto wants to protect is its profits.]
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Chemical Market Reporter - 18-Jun-01
Controversy Begins Over New Monsanto Bt Cry3Bb Protectant
US growers and seed companies are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to approve a new plant incorporated protectant developed by Monsanto Company, saying the pesticidal corn would reduce insecticide use and combat a prevalent corn pest.
Activists, however, contend that not enough is known about its effects on people, on nontarget organisms and on the management of the insects' resistance to the toxin produced by the corn.
The comments were filed with EPA on Monsanto's application to register the plant-incorporated protectant Bt Cry3Bb protein and the genetic material needed to produce it in the corn.
A spokesman for the St. Louis, Mo.-based company says Monsanto hopes to commercialize the product for the 2002 growing season. He says the pesticidal corn could reduce application of insecticides now used to attack the corn rootworm.
More than 96 million pounds of insecticides are used in the US yearly against the pest, which causes about $1 billion in crop damages annually, the official says.
The American Seed Trade Association and several corn grower organizations urged EPA to register the protectant, saying the corn rootworm can cause severe yield loss in corn. The groups noted that the new corn could replace the use of organophosphate pesticides, which are under regulatory scrutiny.
Foundation Earth, an environmental and agricultural organization in St. Louis, estimates that farmers would plant the corn on 5 million acres and thereby reduce insecticide use by 2.4 million pounds of active ingredient.
However, activist groups such as Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists, say there is insufficient scientific data to fully determine the health or environmental impacts of the corn.
They say data show that levels of the BtCry3Bb protein in corn would be "extraordinarily high" compared to other Bt protectants already registered, which could raise concern for organisms not targeted by the toxin.
REALITY CHECK:
"The Five 'D's" of corporations:
Deny [harm], Delay [solutions], Divide [opposition], Dupe [the public] and then Dump [the product]
Also check out: Risk Assessment
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