I wanted to forward this letter I received today via email from the EPA. Several weeks ago, after reading an article on the Union of Concerned Scientist web site, I jotted down and sent off a quick email to some generic email address at the epa regarding my concern, expressed by a recent study at Cornell University, that wildlife was being endangered by Bt corn. I figured it would just be absorbed into the bowels of US govt beauracracy and I'd never hear anything about again. I was quite surprised and please to receive this notice today, as it appears they somewhat have there sh*t together over there at the EPA, at least in regards to this somewhat hot button environmental PR issue. The reply is not your typical "thanks for your interest" form letter. There's some bits of detail about Bt corn, and how the EPA/USDA investigates potential problems and what is being done to study this issue further. Anways, I thought I would pass this along here, as the topic of GE modified crops has gotten alot of mileage recently. I wonder how many others got such a reply, or if this was part of a larger, planned EPA press release. I must admit, a simple letter/reply like this does make me feel a little bit better about the work these people are supposed to be doing for us. Now before I get blasted with both barrells, I am NOT saying these agencies are perfect, but at least appear to be genuinely working the issues, rather than the well known sterotypical image of merely being a well paid rubber stamp organization and/or accomplices to the interests of mega-corporate America. Greg ------------ Dear Concerned Citizen: Thank you for your letter to Administrator Carol Browner expressing your concerns about the monarch butterfly and the current system of regulating genetically-engineered crops. Your letter was forwarded to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Pesticide Programs, because we are responsible for regulating the use of pesticides in the United States. First, let me assure you that we are working closely with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that pesticides incorporating biotechnology can be used without unreasonable risks to human health or the environment. Before EPA will approve a new genetically-engineered pesticide, we require extensive testing to evaluate health and environmental concerns. FDA is similarly responsible for ensuring the safety of genetically-engineered foods and feed crops, while USDA is responsible for the safety of meat, poultry, and dairy products. A study conducted by Cornell University and published this spring in Nature suggested that pollen from corn genetically-engineered to express the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin may pose risks to monarch butterfly larvae, other butterfly species that feed on milkweed, or other plants. Before the first Bt plant-pesticide was registered in 1995, EPA evaluated studies of its potential effects on a wide variety of organisms which might be exposed to the Bt toxin but are not target pests, such as birds, fish, honeybees, and earthworms. EPA concluded that these species were not harmed. While the Agency was aware of potential adverse effects on some species of butterflies, we did not believe that Bt crops would threaten these species overall. At that time, EPA also concluded that certain endangered species of butterflies would not likely be at risk from Bt corn crops because they do not tend to inhabit areas where Bt corn is planted. Since the publication of the article in Nature, EPA has taken a number of steps to fully understand possible risks to monarch butterflies from Bt corn pollen. We have contacted the researchers at Cornell and Iowa State Universities, and we expect to complete our scientific review of their studies shortly. The authors acknowledge that it would be inappropriate to draw conclusions about risk to monarch populations in the field based solely on the initial results of their laboratory findings. To help identify actual risks to monarch populations in the field, we have asked registrants of Bt corn products to provide us with field performance data dating back to 1995 when the first Bt corn products were registered by the Agency. EPA also is consulting with monarch butterfly experts and USDA to better understand the effect of Bt corn pollen on monarch butterflies. Let us assure you that if unreasonable risks are identified, EPA will take appropriate action to reduce the risk to monarch populations. As we proceed with our continued review, we will provide regular updates of our progress on the EPA website: www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides. In consultation with the US Department of the Interior (DOI), EPA is taking steps to protect endangered and threatened species of butterflies and other insects, as well as animals and plants, from the risks posed by pesticides, including the Bt plant-pesticide. The Agency has an Endangered Species Program within the Office of Pesticide Programs that receives regular updates from DOI on which species are classified as endangered or threatened. This program also collects biological data on specific species from DOI, states, and other parties. Both the classifications and the biological data are used by the Agency to conduct ecological risk assessments on pesticides, including products of biotechnology, that take into account their potential effects on endangered and threatened species. As previously mentioned, before Bt corn was registered we assessed the risks to several endangered species of butterflies and determined that Bt corn pollen did not pose risks to these species. I hope you find this letter useful. For more information, you can access fact sheets from EPA?s website at the above address. If you have any questions or comments, please call the Communication Services Branch within my Division at (703) 305-5017. Sincerely, Anne E. Lindsay, Director Field and External Affairs Division Office of Pesticide Programs
