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EPA Report Sides With NCGA on Monarch Butterflies
September
5, 2001
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Gary Bradley, bradley@ncga.com;
314/275-9915, ext. 139;
Tom Slunecka, slunecka@ncga.com;
314/275-9915, ext. 114
ST.
LOUIS (September 5, 2001) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has released a report stating Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn
poses little risk to monarch butterflies, putting to rest controversy
stemming from a two-year-old Cornell University study that asserted
the Bt pollen was harmful to monarchs.
The EPA report,
issued Tuesday, said while there is a small chance that one in 100,000
monarch caterpillars could be affected by toxic corn pollen, research
suggests even those larvae will mature into healthy butterflies.
The National Corn
Growers Association (NCGA) has said in the past Bt corn poses no threat
to the Monarch Butterflies and NCGA Biotech Working Group Chairman and
Plain City, Ohio, corn grower Fred Yoder said he is glad to see the
EPA agrees.
“It’s definitely
a positive,” he said. “With this report, we can put this issue behind
us and move on. Growers need continued access to the technology, and
this is a big step towards that.”
EPA`s conclusion
that the corn is relatively harmless to monarch populations is based
in part on field studies conducted last summer by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) in Maryland, Iowa and Minnesota. Data from those
studies have not been published, but have been turned over to EPA for
review.
The agency has declined
to release the data because of confidentiality claims by biotech companies
involved in the research. Agency officials said they hoped to release
the data before the Sept. 30 deadline for renewing Bt corn licenses.
EPA Extends Bt
Re-registration Comment Period
EPA is currently
engaged in a comprehensive reassessment of the time-limited registrations
for all existing Bt corn and cotton and has extended its comment period.
The EPA announced it is allowing until Monday, Sept. 10, to comment
on the implications of Bt re-registration.
Growers can quickly
submit their comments on Bt re-registration by clicking on the Action
Alert on the NCGA home page: www.ncga.com.
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