More farmers ignoring EPA's engineered-corn rules

As many as a fourth of farmers growing genetically engineered corn may no longer be complying with federal rules designed to protect the crops from insects. A new report, written by Gregoy Jaffe of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says the number of farmers ignoring the rules is up from just 10 percent a few years ago, Andrew Pollack of The New York Times reports.

Jaffe termed the data as "a wake-up call to EPA that the regulatory system is not working" in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson. The reports says ignoring these rules raises the risk that insects will develop resistance to the toxins in the corn that are meant to kill them, Pollack reports. In 2008 about 49 million acres of the altered corn, called BT corn, accounts for 57 percent of the domestic corn acreage.

So far there appears to be little evidence of growing resistance among insects to the toxins in the corn, Pollack reports. EPA requires farmers to plant at least 20 percent of their fields with non-BT corn to serve as a refuge for insects. Jaffe compiled his data from EPA reports obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Only 74 percent of farmers were still meeting the refuge requirement i 2008. EPA says it will review the report and take action if necessary. (Read more)