WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2014 – USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published notices in the Federal Register today, one involving extending the deregulation status for a Monsanto soybean and another proposing a field test for insecticide-free eradication of harmful insects.
The first matter involves extending the deregulation status that already is carried by soybean event MON 87701 to a new genetically engineered (GE) soybean event, MON 87751. Both strains resist lepidopteran insects such as moths, but MON 87751 also resists the fall armyworm. APHIS said it sees no significant impact from extending the deregulated status.
APHIS also announced the availability of an environmental assessment on the effects of controlled field testing of GE diamondback moths to test a method of reducing field populations of lepidopteran pests without the use of insecticides. The moths have been engineered for “repressible female lethality” with red florescence as a marker. The study hopes to examine the “feasibility and efficacy” of using the GE moths to reduce the populations of non-GE diamondback moths.
Sending the matters to the register triggers a 30-day comment period which is set to expire Sept. 29.
#30
For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com