Biotech Updates

EFSA Issues Scientific Opinion on GM Cotton

September 30, 2011

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)'s Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO Panel) has issued a scientific opinion on application EFSA-GMO-RX-MON531 submitted by Monsanto for renewal of the authorization for continued marketing of cottonseed oil, food additives, and feed materials and feed additives produced from cotton MON531.

The Panel said that these products are as safe as its conventional counterpart and is unlikely to have adverse effects on human and animal health and the environment in the context of its intended uses. Cotton MON531 was developed for resistance to specific lepidopteran cotton pests by the introduction of a gene coding for a synthetic variant of Cry1Ac insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis.

See details of the the EFSA scientific opinion at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/2373.htm.