August 3, 2010

DuPont and Dow's biotech corns get EU approval

The EU recently announced that it has granted import, food, feed and processing approvals for biotechnology corn products jointly developed by DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.

Corn products containing the Herculex^® I insect protection and the Herculex^® RW trait stack, and corn products containing the Herculex^® RW, Herculex^® I and Roundup Ready^® Corn 2 trait stack now are permitted for import into the EU.

"These approvals show promising movement in the EU for biotech approvals," said Paul Schickler, Pioneer Hi-Bred president. "We are encouraged by these approvals and urge the Commission and EU Member States to similarly approve biotech crops for cultivation so Europe's farmers have access to the same technologies as other farmers around the world."

Herculex^® RW contains the Bt trait to provide an environmentally improved means of protecting corn plants against attacks by the corn rootworm and reducing the need to use insecticides. Herculex^® I contains the Bt trait to provide protection against a broad spectrum of insect pests, including corn borer, black cutworm and fall armyworm. The Roundup Ready^® Corn 2 gene for tolerance to glyphosate herbicide allows growers to effectively and efficiently control weeds in their fields, allowing the corn plants to achieve higher yields.