Highlights of Biotech Industry in 2012 (part 2)

Product approval and launch

• Bayer CropScience has received registration from the US EPA for its TwinLink technology for cotton in the USA.

• Dow AgroSciences and M.S. Technologies have unveiled Enlist E3™ soybeans as the brand name for the industry’s first-ever, three-gene herbicide tolerant soybean. This advanced technology was submitted for U.S. regulatory approval in August 2011 and is anticipated to be launched in 2015 pending U.S. and import country approvals.

• Dow AgroSciences announced that Canadian regulatory authorities have approved the Enlist™ corn trait and the Enlist™ soybean trait.

• Dow AgroSciences has announced the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 8,283,522, covering crop plants containing another of Dow AgroSciences’ innovative class of herbicide-tolerant traits.

• Dow AgroSciences announced the launch of POWERCORETM corn with five genes stacked in Argentina to control major pests in corn.

• Dow AgroSciences announced the launch of POWERCORE™ in Brazil to control major pests in corn.

• DuPont has received registration from the US EPA for Optimum® AcreMax® XTreme insect protection for corn.

• DuPont Pioneer has received all necessary regulatory approvals for import into major world markets of grain grown from Optimum AcreMax XTreme products.

• Monsanto Company's dicamba-tolerant soybean product has received full food, feed and environmental release approval from Health Canada (HC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

• Monsanto is going to introduce Genuity DroughtGard hybrids in U.S. Western Great Plains in 2013.

• Monsanto was authorized by Argentina to market its latest genetically modified soybeans Intacta RR2 Pro to farmers.

• Monsanto will roll out the third generation biotechnology product in cotton next year in India.

• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada have granted full food, feed and environmental safety approval for Monsanto's next generation Roundup Ready canola trait.

• Building on the successful launch of Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® trait technology, Monsanto Company is poised to deliver a dozen new soybean traits in the next decade, helping farmers boost yield to meet the growing global demands for soybeans.

• South Korea has approved Monsanto’s Intacta RR2 PRO soybean.

• Brazil's biosecurity regulator CTNBio approved use of a genetically modified cotton seed Bollgard II Roundup Ready Flex produced by Monsanto, which offers pest resistance properties and is tolerant of the weed killer glyphosate.

• Syngenta announced that the Secretary of Agriculture in Argentina has approved its MIR604 trait and quadruple corn stack Bt11 x MIR162 x GA21x MIR604 (Agrisure Viptera® 4) for cultivation.

• Syngenta announced that the US EPA has granted registration approval for two refuge-in-a-bag trait stacks Agrisure Viptera® 3220 E-Z Refuge™ and Agrisure® 3122 E-Z Refuge™.

• Syngenta Canada has announced that the Agrisure Viptera™ 3220 E-Z Refuge™ trait stack has received Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) approval.

• Syngenta announced that the US EPA has granted registration of its Agrisure Duracade™ trait (Event 5307 Corn).

• Syngenta Canada announced that the Agrisure® 3122 E-Z Refuge™ trait stack is approved for use in Canada.

• Syngenta Canada Inc. is launching its newest wheat variety, Canadian Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) SY985, for the 2013 growing season.

• Syngenta announced that regulatory authorities in Taiwan have granted import approval for the Agrisure® 3122 trait stack for food use.

• Syngenta Canada and Bayer CropSciences have submitted application to Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada (HC), seeking approval for their soybean line, SYHT0H2, which has been genetically modified for herbicide resistance.

• The European Commission formally authorised the genetically modified (GM) maize MIR162 Agrisure Vipterra marketed by Syngenta for use in food and feed, as well as for import and processing in the European Union.

• Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has signed an amendment on the law of animal feeding, which allows the use of genetically modified soybeans in animal nutrition starting 2016.

• Russia has approved genetically modified soybean line BPS-CV127-9 (BASF) tolerant to imidazolinone class of herbicides as beans subject to processing in accordance with technologies ensuring deprivation of their reproduction ability.

• Soybean producers in Rio Grande do Sul are in the process of testing a new soybean variety Intacta RR2 Pro developed by Monsanto specifically for the Brazilian market.

• Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) approved the field testing of Syngenta's GM corn MIR 162, a genetically modified corn resistant to Lepidopteran insects.

to be continued……