GM cotton gains Australian approval for commercial release

The OGTR has approved Monsanto's application for commercial release of its GM cotton varieties in some areas.

Two varieties, Bollgard II and Bollgard II/Roundup Ready, have been approved for the cotton growing areas of southern Queensland and northern NSW, but OGTR has deferred commercial approval in northern Australia, north of latitude 22 degrees south.

Monsanto will be able to continue with field trials of the GM cotton varieties under strict controlled conditions in these areas. The field trials are being conducted primarily by CSIRO.

Monsanto's cotton business manager Roger Boyce said that the company had anticipated the restriction.

"Trials can continue to be conducted to determine whether cotton is a viable crop in these areas," he noted. "But our major focus for cotton is in southern areas where we have been approved for commercial release."

The Gene Technology Regulator Dr Sue Meek said that more data was needed to ensure that the cotton would not pose an environmental risk to northern Australia and cited the potential for weediness as a possible issue with commercial release.

In the southern region cotton does not pose a weed problem, she said

"After considering all of the submissions from the public, other key stakeholders and expert groups and the available data, my initial assessment was confirmed and, for this reason, I have restricted the commercial release to southern Australia," Meek said.

The Bollgard II variety contains two insecticidal genes rather than the one gene found in Ingard, which was approved several years ago for commercial release in the southern regions.

"This creates a double-barrelled approach to the pests. In effect, if one gene doesn't get the insect, the other will," Boyce said. "Therefore the two genes greatly reduce the risk of resistance developing. This means that Bollgard II can be planted on a significantly greater percentage of the cotton area."

He claimed that the use of the new variety would further reduce pesticide use on cotton crops.