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Deliberate release into the E.U. environment of GMOs for any other purposes than placing on the market:
Field trials with herbicide tolerant cotton, for production of reference material
Date of publication: February 23, 2006
Source: http://gmoinfo.jrc.it/gmp_browse_geninf.asp

Notification number: B/ES/06/35

Member State:Spain

Date of Acknowledgement:27/12/2005

Title of the Project:
Field trials with herbicide tolerant cotton, for production of reference material.

Proposed period of release From:21/03/2006 To:20/12/2007

Name of the Institute(s) or Company(ies): Bayer BioScience N.V.;

3. Is the same GMPt release planned elsewhere in the Community?
Yes:

Planned outside the EU: Australia, Brazil, Mexico.

4 - Has the same GMPt been notified elsewhere by the same notifier?
Yes
If yes, notification number(s):
B/ES/05/22

Other notifications
- USA: (APHIS 99-007-08n; 00-074-14n; 00-108-10n; 00-119-05n; 00-258-02n; 01-075-17n; 01-102-21n; 01-08-05n; 01-271-05n) - Australia: (OGTR DIR 015/2002; DIR 038/2003) – EU: EFSA-GMO-NL-2005-13;

Genetically modified plant

1. Complete name of the recipient or parental plant(s)
Common Name Family Name Genus Species Subspecies Cultivar/breeding line
cotton malvaceae gossypium gossypium hirsutum   Coker312, other breeding

2. Description of the traits and characteristics which have been introduced or modified, including marker genes and previous modifications:
Glufosinate ammonium herbicide tolerance.

Genetic modification

3. Type of genetic modification:
Insertion;

4. In case of insertion of genetic material, give the source and intended function of each constituent fragment of the region to be inserted:
Genetic elements which confer the phenotype of tolerance to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium:

- P35S3 : Promotor region of the 35S transcript from Cauliflower Mosaic Virus
- bar : Coding sequence of the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene (bar) from Streptomyces hygroscopicus
- 3’ nos : the 3’untranslated region of the nopaline synthase gene from the T-DNA of pTiT37 from Agrobacterium tumefaciens


6. Brief description of the method used for the genetic modification:
The transgenic cotton lines are generated using disarmed Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

7. If the recipient or parental plant is a forest tree species, describe ways and extent of dissemination and specific factors affecting dissemination:
Not relevant.

Experimental Release

1. Purpose of the release:
The purpose of this study is to produce reference materials of the transformation event LLCotton25.

2. Geographical location of the site:
1 location in Spain in the province of Cataluña: Vinallop.

3. Size of the site (m2):
2500 m2

4. Relevant data regarding previous releases carried out with the same GM-plant, if any, specifically related to the potential environmental and human health impacts from the release:
The previous releases took place in the US from 1999 to 2001, on a total of more than 40 locations. Trials are currently ongoing in Australia and Mexico. A summary of the findings include:
- The genetic change is stable and the introduced gene produces a protein which has a proven safety profile.
- The new glufosinate-tolerant cotton varieties share the characteristics of cotton plants in agricultural production and of cottonseed in commerce.
- In side-by-side comparisons with the non-transgenic parent variety of plant morphological characters and analysis of components of nutritional importance, no evidence of pleiotropic effects were detected.
- There is no cause for concern to non-target organisms presented by the new plant varieties or the new use of the herbicide, glufosinate.
- The potential for gene flow, the transfer of glufosinate herbicide tolerance to wild or weedy cotton relatives, is low.
- The consequence of gene flow will not be detrimental to current agronomic systems and can be managed by current agricultural practices.
- There is no cause for concern for the human consumption and for animal feed use of the seed or plant products derived from the LibertyLink cotton varieties based upon transformation event LLCotton25.
- Liberty system complements current cotton field weed control practices.
- The agricultural requirements of cotton crops for irrigation and temperate climate prevent glufosinate-tolerant cotton from becoming invasive of new habitats as a result of cultivation.

Environmental Impact and Risk Management

Summary of the potential environmental impact from the release of the GMPts:
Genetically modified cotton has the same behavior as conventional cotton except for the characters encoded by the inserted bar gene.
Due to the measures taken in the trials and the lack of wild relatives of cotton in Europe, BCS consider that gene transfer is unlikely to happen, neither to other species nor to conventional cotton.
However if a weed or a volunteer would receive the transgene, this would not confer any selective advantage in the absence of glufosinate treatment.
This transgenic cotton has been tested at various locations in the US and in Australia and post-harvest monitoring did not report any adverse effects on the environment.
The bar gene has been approved in various crops since 1995, for environmental release, food and feed by different agencies in the world including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and the US. Regarding cotton specifically, transgenic lines tolerant to herbicides are also developed and approved in various countries since 1994.


Brief description of any measures taken for the management of risks:
The trial will be conducted with an isolation distance of 1.5 km from any other cotton. The products harvested from the field trial will be used for experimental purposes or destroyed. The site will be visited on a regular basis during the trial period.

Summary of foreseen field trial studies focused to gain new data on environmental and human health impact from the release:
The planned field trial is designed in order to produce reference materials

The planned field trial is not designed to address the impact of the release on human health.

Final report

-

European Commission administrative information

Consent given by the Competent Authority: Not Known
Notification

Other notifications from this source

14,977

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