Monsanto EU GM Maize Plans Undermined by Damning US Report
April 3, 2012 A review by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) [1] describes Monsanto’s insect resistance monitoring strategy for Bt maize in the US Midwest as “inadequate and likely to miss early resistance events”. It also highlights how the crop itself may be causing the problem and how a failure to enforce mitigation measures, like refuges and rotations, is making it worse.
The review confirms that in Iowa and Illinois a major pest of maize, the western corn rootworm, has developed resistance to the toxic Cry3Bb1 protein present in Monsanto’s MON863 and MON88017 Bt maizes. It goes on to report “severe efficacy issues for Monsanto’s Cry3Bb1 trait” in Minnesota and Nebraska.
Monsanto has applied for authorization to grow MON88017 in the European Union. GM Freeze published a review of insect resistance in Bt crops earlier this year [2] and is releasing today a critique of the European Food Safety Authority’s support for approval of EU cultivation of MON88017. [3]
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