The US Environmental Protection Agency has rejected media reports suggesting its recent announcement of new control measures on GM crop production amounted to a clampdown on food biotechnology. The restrictions "do not represent a significant divergence from past practice", it said.
Groups opposed to GM foods claimed the measures amounted to a major blow to biotech companies, particularly in the US, where most GM crops are grown. It was a move to strengthen rules on areas of non-GM crops, known as refuges, that must be grown around GM varieties, notably Bt corn, the EPA said this week. These are grown to prevent insects becoming resistant to the Bt component in GM corn, a natural toxin the crop can generate to act as an insecticide.
The measures were also an attempt to prevent the spread of GM pollen and to have uniform controls. They provided for increased field monitoring for any possible development of insect resistance, but none has arisen to date in Bt corn. Refuge rules vary depending on what Bt corn varieties are grown and where. Monsanto said the restrictions did not apply to its Bt corn products, which account for most Bt corn grown in the US. They would apply for "certain limited geographical areas", according its Irish business manager, Dr Patrick O'Reilly. Most of the measures were not new and had been proposed last year by a working group stewarding the industry.
It has been confirmed, following the company's merger with the pharmaceutical giant Pharmacia & Upjohn, that Pharmacia Corporation will be the dominant company name, while the Monsanto name will still apply to its agricultural activity, including GM crop business.
Meanwhile, the Green Party has said the European Commission's paper on how it intends implementing the "precautionary principle" is "deeply disappointing". The paper, issued last week, outlines how the principle will be applied to issues of scientific uncertainty which, the greens contend, should include GM foods.
