According to a news release from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), on Jan. 3 they released a Draft Environmental Impact Service (DEIS) as part of a review, prompted by a petition for a regulatory review of genetically engineered plants from Dow AgroSciences, to see if they should deregulate “genetically engineered corn and soybean plants resistant to several herbicides.” If the GE plants do not present a “plant pest risk,” APHIS must then progress in the deregulation. The Environmental Protection Agency is also conducting a “concurrent review of the related herbicides” as part of the APHIS regulatory process.
Many people remain uncomfortable with the idea of ingesting genetically modified organisms. “I think food is meant to stay in its natural form so that it can truly nourish the human body … When the genetic structure of the food is manipulated, it becomes unnatural and could have the potential of actually harming the human body rather than doing good to it,” UO senior Sophie Lott said.
According to an APHIS Q&A about the DEIS, “These GE varieties of soybeans and corn have been developed to provide farmers with new tools to manage weeds that have developed resistance to other herbicides.”
Not everyone views this development as positive or necessary. “What is to say plants won’t become resistant to other herbicides,” said Charlotte Baker, vice chair of Oregon State Public Interest Research Group and University of Oregon sophomore. Baker is also OSPIRG’s GMO campaign coordinator.
“OSPIRG doesn’t have a stance on saying GMOs are good or bad. We just think people have the right to make an informed decision,” Baker said. The unavailability of information about GMOs in products prompted the OSPIRG campaign to raise awareness with a main focus on petitions. “Consumers have a right to as much information as possible for any product,” Baker said. “The vast majority of people consume GMOs.”
Dow AgroSciences created three new GE plants—Enlist corn, Enlist soybean and Enlist E3 soybean traits. In their news release Dow AgroSciences said, “New data from November of 2013 indicate an astonishing 86 percent of corn, soybean and cotton growers in the South have herbicide — resistance or hard to control weeds on their farms … growers need new tools now to address this challenge.” Dow AgroSciences has won 4 EPA Presidential Green Chemistry award-winning insecticides. They also produce herbicides, fungicides, fumigants, nitrogen stabilizers, seed traits and oils. Their website reads “We are committed to increasing crop productivity through higher yields, better varieties and more targeted pest management control.”
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