|
EPA extends registration for Bt cotton (Oct. 2, 2001 – CropChoice news) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has re-registered Bt cotton for five more years, but delayed its decision on Bt corn for two weeks so that the public will have more time to comment. Bt crops are genetically engineered to produce the insecticideal soil bacterium bacillus thuringiensis.
In the case of Bt cotton, the EPA is unconvinced that insects will gain resistance to the bacterium. Environmentalists have argued that the refuges of conventional cotton that farmers plant to prevent the development of resistance are inadequate.
For more information, visit these sites:
www.foe.org/safefood/btreg.html.
www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/reds/brad_bt_pip.htm
|