EPA Approves Monsanto's Insect-Protected Cotton - Bollgard
 Industrial Environment 1jan96 

The EPA has granted regulatory approval for Monsanto 's Bollgard(TM) gene, which provides cotton plants with season-long, in-plant protection from such major lepidopteran insect pests as the cotton bollworm, tobacco budworm and pink bollworm. EPA's registration of the Bollgard gene, the first insect-protection gene to be approved for cotton and only the third for any crop, follows the successful completion earlier this year of regulatory reviews by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The notification marks Monsanto 's fourth allowing full commercialization of a genetically engineered crop in the past six months.

The insect control protein introduced into cotton plants was originally isolated from a specific strain of a natural soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. The genetically-engineered seeds containing the Bollgard gene are covered by Monsanto patents, some of which have been issued, while others are pending.

According to James Tobin, Monsanto Cotton Business Director, the Bollgard gene will be widely available to America's cotton farmers for the 1996 planting season. The gene has already been incorporated into a number of popular cotton varieties.

The technology will be commercially introduced by Delta and Pine Land Company, the leading U.S. cotton seed company. Additional programs to commercialize Bollgard cotton are underway at the Jacob Hartz Seed Company and Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company, Inc.