DuPont gets OK for genetically altered soybeans - Truth About Trade and Technology

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DuPont gets OK for genetically altered soybeans

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Tuesday, 22 July 2008 04:26

Check Biotech
By Andrew Eder
Original Publish Date: July 18, 2008

DuPont Co. has received U.S. regulatory approval to use Optimum GAT - a genetically engineered trait that makes crops resistant to weed killers - in soybeans.

The announcement today keeps DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred business unit on track to launch Optimum GAT for soybeans next year.

Optimum GAT, which marks the company’s first proprietary genetically engineered trait, is a crucial part of DuPont’s strategy to capture a greater share of the North American market for corn and soybean seeds.

DuPont said it is planning demonstration plots of soybeans with the Optimum GAT trait in 2009 and 2010, with a commercial launch in 2011. The company expects to introduce Optimum GAT for the larger North American corn market in 2010.

Genetically engineered seeds incorporate genes from other organisms to impart a certain trait, like herbicide- or insect-resistance, to crops. DuPont says Optimum GAT seeds are resistant to both glyphosate, a herbicide marketed by Monsanto under the brand name Roundup, and a class of weed killers known as ALS herbicides.

Pioneer markets seeds with an insect-resistant trait called Herculex, developed in conjunction with Dow AgroSciences. The company licenses a yield-enhancing trait and a popular herbicide-resistant trait called Roundup Ready from rival Monsanto Co.

DuPont would not disclose the royalties it pays to Monsanto, but Karr said the development of Optimum GAT represents more than just a desire to wean its top competitor off of those payments.

“A lot of it’s about making better products, and we feel that the Optimum GAT is better than what we can get through the traits being offered by Monsanto and others,” Karr said.