US corn farmers play fast and loose with GM regulations

 

 

An increasing number of US farmers that grow GM corn are no longer complying with federal rules intended to maintain crop resistance to insect damage.

 

Just a few years ago, only less than 10 percent of US growers skirted these regulations. The latest increase to 25 percent raises the risk that insects will develop resistance to the toxins in the corn that are meant to kill them, said a report by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest. 

 

Concerns have also been raised whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the agricultural biotechnology industry are adequately enforcing the rules and regulations.

 

BT corn has bacterial genes spliced into their DNA that cause the plants to produce toxins that kill certain insects when they feed on the crop. In 2008, about 49 million acres of BT corn was grown, accounting for 57 percent of domestic corn acreage.

 

To prevent insects from growing resistant to the toxins in the corn, which would ultimately hurt the corn farmers, the EPA requires farmers in the Corn Belt to plant 20 percent of their fields with non-BT corn to serve as a refuge for insects. The idea is that if an insect becomes resistant to the BT toxin, it is likely to mate with a non-resistant insect from the refuge, resulting in offspring that would not be resistant.

 

Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Syngenta and Dow AgroSciences jointly conduct an annual survey of corn growers to assess compliance.

 

The reports were obtained from the EPA by Gregory Jaffe, biotechnology project director of Centre for Science in the Public Interest. The reports revealed that about 90 percent of BT corn growers were compliant to the rule in 2003 to 2006, but fell to 80 percent in 2007 and 78 percent in 2008.

 

Only 74 percent of farmers were setting up a big enough refuge for rootworm-resistant corn in 2008, down from 89 percent in 2006. And only 63 percent of farmers had their rootworm refuges close enough to their fields.

 

The data should be a wake-up call to the EPA that the regulatory system is not working, said Jaffe.

 

The EPA said it would evaluate the report and take action if necessary.