Biosafety studies on GM cotton approved in Bolivia

Date:02-20-2012


The Biosafety Clearing House of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in Bolivia has approved the conduct of biosafety studies of Bt cotton, a process necessary for eventual commercialization. Studies will be done on the following events: Monsanto's MON 531 with resistance to lepidopteran insects, and Bollgard / Cryx (event MON 15893 x MON 531) with resistance to lepidopteran insects and tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate.

Currently the only approved GM crop in Bolivia is RR soybean (event 40-3-2 by Monsanto). Bolivian farmers planted the crop on 900,000 hectares in 2011.