Biotech Updates

Canada Oks DuPont's HT trait in Corn, Soy

September 4, 2009

DuPont's herbicide tolerance trait (HT) Optimum GAT has received full approval from the Canadian government for use in corn and soybean for both food and feed. Optimum GAT seeds are resistant to both glyphosate, marketed by Monsanto Co. as Roundup, and ALS (acetolactate synthase) inhibiting herbicides. DuPont said in a press release that the trait is its first product using the gene shuffling technology and the company's first proprietary genetically engineered trait.

"The Canadian regulatory approval of the Optimum GAT trait in corn and soybeans brings Pioneer closer to offering more technologies to farmers' fields," said DuPont vice president Paul E. Schickler. The company has received US approval for the use of the trait in soybean last July and expects approval for Optimum GAT corn seeds in the coming months. DuPont is planning demonstration plots in 2009 and 2010 and will introduce commercial soybean varieties with the trait in the US in 2011.

Read the press release at http://onlinepressroom.net/DuPont/NewsReleases/