New York “is one step closer to becoming the first state to have genetically modified, non-sterile insects released” for an open-air trial against the crop-damaging diamondback moth, says news site EcoWatch. The public comment period has closed on USDA’s environmental assessment, which says the proposed field trial is unlikely to cause adverse effects on plants, soil, water and people.
If USDA issues a permit for the trial, Cornell University researchers will be allowed to release up to 30,000 GE male moths per week for three consecutive months annually for two years at its agricultural experiment station. It would be a follow-up to a 2015 test by Cornell of the GE moths in cages. The moths are the product of British company Oxitec, which says the males pass along a self-limiting gene during mating that prevents female offspring from reaching adulthood.
“Critics of the open release proposal point out that data from those experiments have still not been published in a peer-reviewed journal,” writes Lori Fontanes in EcoWatch (Fontanes is a member of FERN’s board of directors). The Center for Food Safety says USDA should have waited for release of data from the 2015 trial before releasing its environmental assessment. An organic farming group unsuccessfully asked for a 30-day extension of the comment period.
Diamondback moths are widespread pests of crops such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale. USDA estimates the moth costs farmers $4 billion-$5 billion a year worldwide. EcoWatch says female offspring of the GE months “die on the target crop, which raises concerns about ingestion of the tiny GE larvae by livestock, wildlife and humans if the process is eventually put into widespread use.”