Copyright 2000 The Washington Post

January 16, 2000, Sunday, Final Edition

EPA Restricts Gene-Altered Corn in Response to Concerns; Farmers Must =
Plant Conventional 'Refuges' to Reduce Threat of Ecological Damage

By Rick Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer

The Environmental Protection Agency has placed new restrictions on the =
cultivation of genetically modified corn, a response to concerns that =
gene-altered crops may be causing ecological disruptions. The new =
restrictions, which were released late Friday and are effective =
immediately, make unprecedented demands on the producers of biotech seeds =
and on farmers who wish to plant so-called Bt corn, which has been endowed =
with a gene that allows the corn to make its own insecticide. Among the =
new restrictions is a requirement that farmers plant 20 percent to 50 =
percent of their acreage in conventional corn, which some farmers have =
said would be burdensome and some experts said could lead to a decline in =
plantings of the high-tech seeds. Bt corn has enjoyed a meteoric rise in =
popularity among farmers since it was approved for sale in 1996, and was =
planted on more than one-third of U.S. corn acres last year...

A straw poll of 400 farmers conducted by Reuters last week at the annual =
meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation found that some farmers are =
planning to call it quits with biotech varieties. Farmers said demands by =
U.S. consumers that engineered food products be labeled, and ongoing =
European rejection of the crops, could depress the prices farmers will get =
at harvest for the costly new varieties. The poll results predict a 24 =
percent decline in plantings of Bt corn compared with last year, and a 26 =
percent decline in plantings of Bt cotton. They also predict a 15 percent =
decline in RoundUp Ready soybeans--a gene-altered variety of soy that =
protects the plants against the popular weed killer made by St. =
Louis-based Monsanto Co. and was planted on more than half of all U.S. soy =
acres last year. And it predicts a 22 percent drop in RoundUp Ready corn.

...The new EPA restrictions, described in letters to biotech seed =
producers from Janet L. Andersen, director of EPA's biopesticides and =
pollution prevention division, could influence those decisions for corn. =
They demand that farmers plant large "refuges" of conventional corn near =
their Bt corn to reduce Bt pressures on insects and delay the evolution of =
resistance in pest populations. Farmers will not be allowed to spray =
refuges with conventional insecticides unless they can prove that pests =
have exceeded certain levels.

And biotech seed producers and farmers will have to monitor insect =
populations for the emergence of insecticide resistance. At the first sign =
that such resistance is occurring, sales of the new seed varieties must be =
halted. The rules also demand that seed producers develop grower =
agreements that farmers must sign or produce educational materials and =
programs such as workshops and publications to ensure compliance with the =
rules. Companies must submit details of those plans to the EPA for =
approval by Jan. 31.