USDA approves Bayer herbicide resistant soybean

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved a line of herbicide resistant soybeans developed by Bayer CropScience for nonregulated status.The soybeans have resistant to the herbicides glyphosate and isoxaflutole.

APHIS determined that the double herbicide-tolerant soybean is unlikely to pose a plant risk after conducting a plant pest risk assessment.

The agency made its decision, “Due to the lack of plant pest risk from the inserted genetic material, the lack of weediness characteristics…the lack of atypical responses to disease or plant pests in the field, the lack of deleterious effects on non-targets or beneficial organisms in the agro-ecosystem, and the lack of horizontal gene transfer.”

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently announced it will publish the announcement in the Federal Register.