More farmers skirting EPA regulations on GM corn
Posted on November 9th, 2009
Greenwire: Farmers growing genetically engineered corn are increasingly not complying with federal rules intended to maintain the corn’s resistance to insects, according to a report released yesterday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
As many as 25 percent of farmers growing pesticide-freighted Bt corn, which accounts for a majority of domestic corn acreage, are not following U.S. EPA mandates that require one-fifth of their fields to be planted with non-Bt corn. That is up from 10 percent of farmers in 2006. The non-Bt fields are meant to provide a refuge for insects, preventing pesticide resistance.
The data “should be a wake-up call to EPA that the regulatory system is not working,” said Gregory Jaffe, the report’s author, in a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
There is little sign so far that insects are developing resistance to the Bt corn pesticide. But the four large biotech companies that jointly survey farmers to assess compliance with the rules are concerned about the problem and have created an advertising campaign to farmers reminding them to set aside their acreage.
“We’re not happy to see negative trends,” said Nicholas Storer, chairman of the industry group that conducts the surveys (Andrew Pollack, New York Times, Nov. 6). – PV