How SAFE is SAFE?

1996 Plan = EPA's Refuge/Hi Dose strategy - What does "Refuge" refer to? _____________________________

• 4% non-Bt cotton unsprayed Refuge OR
• 20% non-Bt cotton with insecticide (non-Bt) Refuge

What does "High Dose" refer to? _________________________________________

2000: Economics of within-field refuges: 40 acre square field, representative farm of 1000 acres

Which of these three refuge options would be most cost effective for the farmer? $$
(Note: Unless you're a farmer, take a guess)

Answer: Planting strips is the lowest cost method of meeting the 20% refuge requirement...only three hoppers on a standard 12-row planter would need to be changed. On the other hand, all hoppers must be changed when planting the block or the U . BUT spraying in strips is a problem so blocks may work best.

2000: Testing Bt refuge strategies in the field Do refuges work? (See graph on Tuesday's handout)

.

2003: Resistance to Bt toxin surprisingly absent from pests Defying the expectations of scientists, target insect pests have developed little or no resistance to Bt crops thus far: "If I'd gotten up seven years ago and said that there would be no evidence of increased resistance after Bt crops were planted on 62 million hectares, I would have been hooted off the stage," says entomologist Bruce Tabashnik of the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ, USA),

Food Safety: List three SPECIFIC reasons why the FDA does not require foods made from 'Yield Gard Plus' corn to be labeled as such.

1) The FDA’s current policy states that food labeling requirements do not apply to the way in which a crop is developed
2) YieldGard is not significantly different from traditional maize - the common or usual name adequately describes the new food.
3) YieldGard does not have a significantly different nutritional property than its traditional counterpart
4) YieldGard does not include an allergen that consumers would not expect to be present based on the name of the food,. "A food label must indicate whether product includes a gene from a common allergy-causing food.

Environmental Safety: RoundUp Pro Bentgrass

List 2 unsettling findings about RR Pro:

1. Pollen carrying RR genes blew as much as 13 miles / 21 kilometers away (2004)

2. Scientists sampled 20,400 plants up to 3 miles from the edge of an 11,000-acre zone surrounding the test plots. They found 9 plants, or 0.04%, that were genetically engineered, the farthest being 2.4 miles from the control zone border.

• Some of the 9 plants had been created by RR Pro seeds that had blown off the test plot and
• Others by hybridization of wild grass with RR Pro pollen from the genetically engineered grass.

Why would bentgrass be susceptible to spread? (three reasons)

• Small, easily blown grass pollen
• Has wild relatives. (don't we ALL?)
• Does not have to be replanted every year.

Scotts argues that grass on golf courses, which is kept short, does not pose the same threat of seed dispersal or pollen flow as grass grown to produce seeds. Comments? ______________________________

Has the USDA approved this crop?

International Relations:

Until recently, the EU had an "overseas-market barrier" for any US GMO Corn. When was this ban lifted, and what is its major provision?

• May 19, 2004
• Any biotech canned or fresh corn must be clearly labelled as harvested from a genetically modified plant,
• The decision applies to all 25 EU countries for 10 years

When did the WTO rule on this dispute, and what did they recommend?

• Feb 7, 2005:
• "The WTO ruling today directs the EU to end its defacto moratorium.
• The favorable ruling gives EU farmers the option to use safe, approved and proven tools to grow food crops, and gives consumers the right to choose those foods in grocery stores."

When did the The United Nations Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety go into effect, and what were the major provisions? Did the US sign?

• Sept 11, 2003
• International shipments that "may contain" transgenic food products must be labeled. (negotiations on more specific labeling requirements in the future).
• The"precautionary principle" can bar import of a transgenic product even in the absence of safety evidence, allowing bans "when governments fear imported GMOs in food may have an adverse effect on biological diversity or human health"
• Heck NO!!!