Bayer Crop Science has asked the US Department of Agriculture to clear two new genetically engineered cotton varieties for commercial use, Global Agriculture reports. The petitions, filed with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and published in the Federal Register, seek nonregulated status, which would let the crops be grown and sold without special biotech oversight under the Plant Protection Act once APHIS has assessed their plant pest risk.
The first, MON 96012, tolerates five types of herbicide: glyphosate, glufosinate, dicamba, and products from the HPPD-inhibiting and PPO-inhibiting classes. Growers can already use Bayer's XtendFlex trait, with tolerance to the first three; the new stack would add two more classes, giving more options to rotate or combine chemistries where weeds have become resistant to older tools.
The second, MON 89151, produces three insecticidal proteins, Vip3Cb1.1, Cry1Da_7 and Cry1B.3, which come from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis and are toxic to certain insects but considered safe for humans and most other organisms. Bayer says it is designed to resist feeding damage from caterpillars of moth pests.
Public comments can be submitted through regulations.gov under dockets APHIS-2026-1387 for the herbicide-tolerant line and APHIS-2026-0859 for the insect-resistant one. APHIS has not said when it expects to decide.
Photo: Kimberly Vardeman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: Global Agriculture
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