Commercial use of caterpillar resistant corn approved in Brazil

The commercial use of genetically modified corn for insect resistance, developed entirely in Brazil, has just been released.

This month, Brazilian CTNBio (National Technical Commission on Biosafety) unanimously approved the EH913 event, resulting from a partnership between Embrapa Corn and Sorghum and Helix, a company belonging to the Agroceres group.

Currently, only two foreign companies supply the technology to the world market. Helix also informed that it has already started the processes for the commercial release of the EH913 event in other countries. However, the date for commercialization in Brazil is still to be confirmed.

The new technology uses a specific gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) against lepidopteran pests, especially Spodoptera frugiperda – considered the primary pest of corn – and Diatraea saccharalis.

“In the field tests carried out, the EH913 event presented a surprising performance, comparable to the best Bt technology currently available on the market,” stated the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation.

In laboratory tests, according to information from Embrapa Corn and Sorghum and Helix, the product was highly effective against fall armyworm larvae, even when diluted 25 times in an artificial diet, indicating a good prognosis in relation to the management of insect resistance. Additionally, corn with the EH913 event proved effective even against populations of Spodoptera frugiperda resistant to Bt proteins present in the market, indicating the absence of cross-resistance with such technologies and further reinforcing its innovative and disruptive character for pest management in Brazil.

The president of the National Technical Commission on Biosafety, Paulo Barroso, said, “The main differential of the event, in addition to the specific technological issues, is that it was produced by two Brazilian companies, one private, Helix, and the other public, Embrapa.”

“The development of this event and the entire safety assessment process were completely carried out in the country. It is a milestone for Brazilian science, which had already produced genetically modified organisms from soy, beans, eucalyptus and now one from corn. The process was very well instructed, correctly referring to food and environmental safety issues,” he confirmed.

According to Frederico Ozanan Machado Durães, General Manager of Embrapa Corn and Sorghum, the release places Brazil, Embrapa and Helix in a select group of countries and companies capable of providing Bt technology.

“The construction of disruptive knowledge, in the public-private partnership, is an intelligent strategic process of co-creation and highly timely co-development to increase relevance in the productive sector. Exchanging knowledge – technical-scientific, managerial and business – is relevant to impact the productive sector and, at this moment, the approval of the EH913 event for commercial use in Brazil puts the country and its partners on a route of high contribution in the interest of the farmer and promotion of the development of Brazilian agriculture,” he commented.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)