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After months of study, the Environmental Protection Agency soon will be wrapping up its first comprehensive review of the United States' major genetically engineered crops: corn, cotton and potato plants that deliver their own pesticides. The agency is awaiting a report this month by an independent panel of scientists on the safety of the crops, which represent a growing share of U.S. farm production. The agency then will decide for how long to approve their continued use and in what way those crops must be planted to make sure that pests such as the bollworm and corn borer do not build up a resistance. "It's significant and it's groundbreaking," said a spokesman for the agency, which works with the Federal Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to regulate biotechnology products. "It's a comprehensive review using the best available science to ensure that our decisions on these products are fully protective of public health and the environment." Since their commercial introduction in 1995, the use of genetically engineered crops has surged, saving farmers more than $100 million in reduced pesticide use and markedly increasing yields not damaged by pests. An estimated one-fifth of U.S. corn production now comes from genetically engineered seeds. The seeds account for an even bigger portion of cotton - more than 60 percent in such states as Arizona, Louisiana and Mississippi. Worldwide, the cotton industry says the figure is more than 10 percent. The adoption of re-engineered potatoes lags far behind. Seeds are spliced with a gene that produces a protein naturally made from strains of bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis. The crops' shorthand - Bt corn, for instance - comes from the name. The plant delivers the protein that kills the pest by starving the insect larvae. One example of the engineered corn is the product StarLink, whose presence prompted a costly nationwide recall last year of corn chips, taco shells and other food products. Federal environmental regulators had approved StarLink for use only as animal feed out of concern that it might cause allergic reactions in humans - a move that the agency now acknowledges was a mistake. The agency acknowledged Wednesday that approving products only for animals was a mistake and said it would no longer approve genetically engineered food for use as animal feed unless it was safe for human consumption, too. Its discovery and the recall highlighted the anxiety that genetically engineered crops have caused both in the United States and abroad, particularly in Europe, where many worry the plants could have unforeseen consequences on health and the environment. The farm industry is especially worried since U.S. agricultural exports earn billions of dollars a year. All the seeds now under federal review were approved for human use, but some activists on biotechnology issues insist that more studies are needed. "This is one of the first times they've had a real chance to thoroughly look at these crops," said Matt Rand, biotechnology campaign manager for the National Environmental Trust in Washington. "They have not done nearly enough studying on these crops to introduce them into the marketplace." Despite the seeds' popularity, a minority of farmers echo the complaints. To them, the federal agency's five-year review may not take into account long-term impacts on other plant and animal species or the quality of soil. "I don't believe that the science of genetically engineered organisms is anywhere sophisticated enough or accurate enough to be able to reasonably predict outcome or consequences of using these kinds of organisms," said Juli Brussell, who farms 600 acres of corn, soybeans and other crops with her husband in a region of rolling hills in southeastern Illinois. The agency's initial assessment has determined that the corn, cotton and potatoes pose no threat to health or the environment, a finding that now awaits the determination of the independent panel this month. In the end, it is extremely unlikely that the agency would take a step as drastic as rescinding its approval for the use of the seeds, most of which are produced by Monsanto Co. and Syngenta Seeds Inc. More likely, environmental officials said, is a renewal of the agency's conditional approval that will last anywhere from one year to five years. After that, the agency will be expected to conduct another review of their health and environmental impact. The Environmental Protection Agency will deliver revised recommendations by summer - to give farmers time to prepare for the 2002 season. The entire review will be completed by autumn. The industry has supported the regulation as a way to increase the public's confidence in the use of the engineered seeds. Some worried the scare over StarLink and concerns in Europe over genetically engineered foods were reasons that sales of Bt corn stalled last year. The corn borer, one of the main pests, also posed less of a threat last season. Industry officials are hoping the review's biggest impact may be a stamp of approval. "It's important for government regulators to have this kind of process to increase everybody's confidence that there is, in fact, a good strong review process and that they are continually looking at the way these things are being stewarded," said Tony Minnichsoffer, a spokesman for Syngenta, which markets an engineered corn seed named YieldGard. Bt corn makes up more than 70 percent of the company's corn seed sales. Loren Wassell, a spokesman for Monsanto, added: "We have always believed that a rigorous regulatory process is important to public confidence." Source: Boston Globe
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