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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 glyphosate herbicide tolerant cotton (transformación event GHB623) for agronomic, nutritional and toxicological evaluation and the production of reference material
Date of publication: February 24, 2006
Source: http://gmoinfo.jrc.it/gmp_browse_geninf.asp

Notification number:  B/ES/06/11-CON

Member State:Spain

Date of Acknowledgement:02/12/2005

Title of the Project:
Field trials with glyphosate herbicide tolerant cotton (transformación event GHB623) for agronomic, nutritional and toxicological evaluation and the production of reference material.

Proposed period of release From:21/03/2006 To:20/03/2009

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: USA, Costa Rica.

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

Other notifications
USA: (APHIS 01-282-03n; 02-072-04n; 02-296-01n; 03-064-14n; 03-255-03n; 04-061-10n; 04-247-01n, 05-060-03n; 05-091-07n; 05-217-05n).

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:
Glyphosate 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:
2mepsps: Coding sequence of 2mepsps from maize that confers the glyphosate herbicide resistance trait.
Refer to the confidential Annex for further information.


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 evaluate agronomic, nutritional and toxicological aspects of the transformation event and to produce reference material. It will be studied also the environmental behavior (survivability, dormancy) of the Genetically Modified Organism under the climatic conditions of the Spanish cotton cultivation zone. No crosses are planned.

2. Geographical location of the site:
2006:
Spain in the province of Catalonia.


3. Size of the site (m2):
2006:
Field trials for agronomic, toxicological and nutritional evaluation with the transformation event will be included in field trials with other transformation events. The transformation event GHB614 will cover a total surface of 180m2, in the field trial localization that will be of 2 hectares. An additional plot of 144 m2 will be present in 2 of the 8 locations for the gene flow studies.

The field trial for the reference material production will cover a surface of 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 2001 to 2005, on a total of 40 locations. 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 glyphosate-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, 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, glyphosate.
- The potential for gene flow, the transfer of glyphosate herbicide tolerance to conventional or wild 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.
The agricultural requirements of cotton crops for irrigation and temperate climate prevent glyphosate-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 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 glyphosate treatment.
This transgenic cotton has been tested at various locations in the US and in Costa Rica and post-harvest monitoring did not report any adverse effects on the environment.


Brief description of any measures taken for the management of risks:
The trials will be conducted with an isolation distance of 200 m from any other cotton. The field trial sites will be surrounded with at least 4 rows of non-transgenic cotton (pollen trap) which will be destroyed after flowering. The multiplication assay will be isolated by 1.5 km from any other cotton field.
The products harvested from the field trials will be used for experimental purposes or destroyed.
Each 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 trials are designed in order to:
1- Evaluate agronomic, toxicological and nutritional aspects
2- Evaluate the environmental behavior (survivability, dormancy) of the Genetically Modified Organism under the climatic conditions of the Spanish cotton cultivation zone
3-To produce reference material

The planned field trials are 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

15,012

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