Headquarters Press Release
Washington, DC.
 
 Date Published:
                 01/14/2000
 Title:
                 Bt. CORN INSECT RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT
                 ANNOUNCED FOR 2000 GROWING SEASON


                            FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JAN. 14, 2000


                      Bt. CORN INSECT RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT
                         ANNOUNCED FOR 2000 GROWING SEASON



EPA has announced new measures for resistance management in Bt. corn. The
additional measures to fully manage insect resistance for the 2000 growing
season include: registrants must require that growers plant a minimum
structured refuge of at least 20 percent non-Bt. corn; for Bt. corn grown in
cotton areas, registrants must ensure that farmers plant at least 50 percent
non-Bt. corn; registrants will expand monitoring in the field as an early
warning system to detect any potential resistance, and will communicate
voluntary measures that will protect non-target insects, particularly the
Monarch butterfly; and there will be sales and planting restrictions in
certain limited geographic areas for some products. The industry has agreed to
the Agency's conditions. For more information on EPA's biotechnology
regulatory program for plant pesticides, see: 
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides.