Syngenta Vipcot cotton trait stack got US final approval

Syngenta in North America announced it has received full deregulation of its traits for insect resistant cotton from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for event COT67B, the final component of the VipCot cotton trait stack along with event COT102.

The deregulation decision will allow for commercial sales of the technology in the U.S. for the 2012 growing season. Syngenta's innovative technology provides cotton growers unprecedented insect control to improve their yield.

Syngenta is licensing the individual traits and the VipCot trait stack to seed providers. Syngenta announced in 2010 that Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, and Monsanto Company each had agreements in place that would allow them to use Vip3A technology with their cotton products.

"Providing multiple modes of insect resistance to growers will help prevent the development of resistant insects, as well as offer growers an opportunity to protect all of their cotton acres from most caterpillar pests," said David Morgan, Syngenta North America Region Director. "Our licensing agreements reaffirm the innovation of Vip3A, the market's first non-Cry insect control protein, as a breakthrough tool providing broad spectrum control of lepidopteran pests while creating new options for insect resistance management."

The VipCot trait stack combines the Cry1Ab protein and the novel Vip3A protein, which is similar to the protein found in Syngenta's Agrisure Viptera corn trait and is a totally new mode of action in both cotton and corn.

While Syngenta does not operate a cotton seed business, the company is committed to assisting cotton producers by providing yield-preserving technologies including traits, seed care products and crop protection products. Syngenta's Vip3A technology brings much needed support to Southern cotton growers, who face persistent pressure from pests such as the cotton bollworm, tobacco budworm and the entire armyworm complex.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted seed registrations for the single cotton events and commercial registration for the combined trait stack and approved a natural refuge option for VipCot cotton technology in 2010.

These cotton traits have received import approval from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Mexico.