US farmers growing genetically modified (GM) corn are relaxing on the standards established to minimise the possibility of insect resistance, a new report says.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has called on regulators not to renew registrations of GM corn unless farmers return to a high level of compliance on insect refuges.
In 2008, 57 per cent of the US corn crop contained genes from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacterium, which protects the plant from corn rootworms and corn borers.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has regulations demanding that near Bt corn crops, farmers plant refuges of conventional corn. The refuges are intended to provide populations of corn pests with no exposure to Bt, to minimise the prospect of Bt-resistant insects breeding only with each other and forming resistant strains.
But CSPI, which claims it is neither for nor against biotechnology, said refuge compliance rates have slipped significantly since 2005.
This threatens not just the viability of Bt crops, CSPI said, but also the livelihood of organic farmers who use Bt in organically-accredited pest sprays.
The CSPI report said that according to its own analysis of industry surveys, 26 per cent of growers planting rootworm-protected crops did not meet the refuge size requirement, and 37 per cent did not meet the distance requirement.
Of those growing “stacked” varieties of GM corn—corn protected against both corn borer and rootworm—28 per cent did not meet the refuge size requirement and 34 per cent failed to meet the distance requirement.
“Given the stakes, regulators should insist on compliance rates much closer to 100 percent to prevent insect problems that threaten all farmers, not just those planting biotech crops,” said CSPI biotechnology director Greg Jaffe.
The biotech industry has responded with “a new, reinvigorated education campaign together with National Corn Growers Association and universities, to reinforce to growers the important role they play in making sure this technology is available for the long run," according to a USA Today interview with Nicholas Storer, chair of the Agricultural Biotechnology Stewardship Technical Committee.
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