USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says its final environmental impact statement (EIS) for corn and soybeans genetically modified by Dow AgroSciences to tolerate herbicides including 2,4-D “affirms [our] preferred alternative to fully deregulate these new GE crops.” The agency also took a first step toward approval of cotton and soybean varieties genetically engineered by Monsanto for resistance to the herbicide dicamba.
The biotech varieties from Dow were opposed strongly by environmental groups as a wrong step that would bring back to the market an outmoded herbicide. Opponents of GE crops said the new varieties were a short-term remedy to the development of herbicide-resistant weeds. Dow and Monsanto hailed the USDA announcement as a step forward for farmers, said Reuters.
APHIS said a final plant risk assessment “found 2,4-D resistant corn and soybeans are unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agricultural crops or other plants in the United States.” The USDA agency, which regulates biotech crops, identified approval of the crops as its preferred alternative in January. It reviewed 10,140 comments on those reports.
The agency also said its preferred option is the approval of genetically engineered cotton and soybean varieties from Monsanto that are resistant to glyphosate and dicamba. In a news release, APHIS said its draft EIS “found that the wider use of these new GE plants would help growers manage weeds, the wider use would also likely result in an increased chance of the development of weeds resistant to dicamba. However, APHIS’ analysis showed that growers can implement diversified weed management practices to mitigate this impact.”
The final EIS and plant risk assessment for the 2,4-D crops is expected to be published in the Federal Register today. Once published, there will be a 30-day comment period before USDA makes a final decision on approving the crops. There will be 45-day review period for the draft EIS on dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans once the document appears in the Federal Register.
To read the documents involved with each crop or for a four-page question-and-answer sheet by USDA about them, click here.