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PANUPS: Action Alert - Bt Cotton
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P A N U P S
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Pesticide Action Network
North America
Updates Service
http://www.panna.org/panna/
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December 9, 1996
Action Alert: Urge EPA to Hold Scientific Advisory Panel
Meeting on Bt Cotton Failure
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) needs to
be prodded into action to deal with its first potential
crisis with genetically engineered pesticidal crops.
Monsanto's Bt cotton, targeted at three cotton pests and
first planted commercially this year, appears not to
have lived up to its promise. EPA approved the crop last
year with the requirement that the company implement a
resistance management plan, that is, a plan to delay the
development of resistance in insects to Bt, a valuable
biological insecticide. With the inability of Bt cotton
to control the cotton bollworm in fields throughout
southern U.S. states this past summer, a critical
element of that plan is in doubt. Yet EPA is not moving
to ensure that a workable resistance management plan is
in place for the next growing season.
Genetically engineered Bt crops were grown for the first
time at commercial scale this past summer. Despite
considerable controversy, EPA gave the go-ahead in 1995
for Monsanto, Ciba-Geigy, and Mycogen to sell crops --
corn, cotton, and potato -- which they had engineered to
contain an insecticidal toxin from Bacillus
thuringiensis, a soil bacterium. The so-called Bt crops
raise concerns among organic growers and
environmentalists because their widespread use is likely
to accelerate the evolution of resistance to Bt in
insect pests. Once resistance develops, Bt sprays --
which are an important pest control tool for organic and
other sustainable farmers -- will be ineffective.
Last summer, Bt cotton failed to control cotton bollworm
on thousands of acres, raising questions about the
adequacy of the resistance management plans the Agency
had approved for Bt cotton. The plans had called for the
new transgenic crop to produce enough Bt toxin to kill
virtually all the targeted insect pests. The survival of
a large number of cotton bollworms on the plants
suggests that the Bt concentrations were too low to
satisfy a critical element of the plans.
EPA needs to move quickly to determine why the crops
failed to control bollworms and to make any needed
adjustments to the resistance management plans in time
for farmers to implement them in the next growing
season. So far, four months after the failure, no data
explaining the problem have been released to the public
and EPA does not appear to have a process or schedule
for involving the public and scientists in evaluating
and revising the resistance management plan before
farmers are ready to plant next year's cotton crop.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the
Environmental Defense Fund wrote to EPA in early October
1996 requesting a public meeting of the Agency
Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) to evaluate the current
Bt resistance management plans. Without a lot of public
pressure, it is unlikely that EPA will move
expeditiously to call an SAP meeting and strengthen the
plans.
The Agency should not be allowed to sweep this issue
under the rug. If EPA lacks the resources to respond to
an obvious wake up call like this one, it should
withdraw the approval of the Bt cotton.
Write to EPA urging the Agency to convene a meeting of
the Scientific Advisory Panel and strengthen the
resistance management plan for Bt cotton before the
spring planting season.
Address your letters to:
Dr. Lynn Goldman
Assistant Administrator, OPPTS
Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW, #642
Washington, DC 20460
202-260-1847 facsimile
Source/contact: Dr. Jane Rissler, Senior Staff
Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists, 1616 P St.,
NW, Washington, DC 20036; phone (202) 332-0900; fax
(202) 332-0905; email jrissler@ucsusa.org.
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