[Excerpted from a Reuters article on October 19, 1998.]

Courtesy of Union of  Concerned  Scientists  (Natural  Law  Party
Wessex).  The Gene Exchange 

A  Public Voice on Biotechnology and Agriculture More Rain on the
Parade 

Low-Yielding Bt cotton in Arkansas According to  the  April  1998
Cotton  Grower,  Bt-cotton  growers  in  Arkansas had less than a
banner year last season.   A  University  of  Arkansas  study  of
several  Bt  and  non-Bt  cotton fields showed that on average Bt
cotton yielded fewer pounds and lower income per acre.  One  farm
showed  a  remarkable difference in yield--Bt cotton produced 168
fewer pounds per acre than the non-Bt variety.  Bt cotton, on the
farms studied,  yielded an average of 24 fewer pounds  per  acre.
Also,  the  new  varieties  required  more  growth  regulator  to
synchronize plant development and  had  to  be  picked  twice  at
harvest.  Non-Bt cotton is typically picked only once.  

Maine Turns Down Bt Corn The Maine Board of Pesticides Control is
the  first  regulatory  body  in the United States to turn down a
request for registration of Bt field corn.  Two concerns turned a
December Board vote against Novartis and  DeKalb,  the  companies
seeking the registration.  The Board was not convinced that Maine
farmers  needed  the  new crop--Bt-corn proponents failed to show
that the European corn borer, the pest targeted by the engineered
corn,  causes sufficient damage in  Maine  to  warrant  approval.
And,  the  Board  was  worried  about the possible development of
resistance to Bt and its impact on the state's organic growers.  

Sources:  Maine Board of Pesticides Control,  "BPC passes  on  Bt
forage corn registrations,"  Communicator 8(4): 1,3, December 30,
1997; S.  Tisher, "BPC nixes genetically engineered corn,"  Maine
Organic Farmer and Gardener 25(1): 10, March-May 1998.  

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02238-9105 617-547-5552, ucs@ucsusa.org