News

EPA report sees little danger from biotech crops

September 21, 2000

Web posted at: 9:53 a.m. EDT (1353 GMT)

The study, which was released Wednesday, also affirmed the government's long-held position that the crops they've approved for human consumption are safe to eat.

Although pollen from biotech corn can kill Monarch butterflies, there is probably little risk to them around corn fields, based on the latest research, the study said. Some scientists believe the corn may even turn out to be beneficial to the butterflies because farmers are using less chemical pesticides, EPA said.

"Considering all of the information available, the weight of evidence indicates no unreasonable adverse effects" of the biotech crops "to non-target wildlife, plants or beneficial invertebrates," the study said.

The crops provide "significant benefits" both to farmers and the environment, the study said, estimating that direct benefits to farmers likely exceeded $100 million last year, the peak year for production of the crops.

EPA prepared the study as part of its review of the registrations for several varieties of biotech crops, include potatoes and cotton as well as corn.

Federal regulators have long insisted that the crops pose no harm to the environment. But critics say they haven't been sufficiently tested, and they have pointed to the gene-altered corn as a leading example of the possible hazards posed by crop biotechnology.

The crop is known as Bt corn because of a bacterium gene that is inserted into the plant to produce a toxin that kills a major pest, the European corn borer.

A Cornell University study released last year found the pollen was toxic to Monarchs in the laboratory. The butterfly feeds on milkweed, which often grows in and around corn fields in the Midwest.

Earlier this week, environmental groups opposed to biotech crops said they had found a new reason for public concern: Test results indicating that one variety of the corn that hasn't been approved for human use was used in taco shells being sold in stores under the Taco Bell name.

EPA hasn't approved that variety of gene-altered corn for food use because of questions about whether it would cause an allergic reaction. Federal officials said they would investigate the test results.

In the study, EPA said it would "closely monitor" further research on the impact of the corn on Monarch butterflies. The risk to butterflies ranges from "low" to "very little" depending on whether they are feeding inside or around the perimeter of corn fields, the study said, adding that the corn itself shows "relatively low toxicity" to the insect.

EPA also considered the impact of the crop on lady bugs, rodents and other animals.

Environmental groups say that the government should have required more research to be done before it approved the crops.

"We'll take a close look at this report," said Larry Bohlen, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth.