Science / Medicine : A Better Tobacco Plant?
Limited field trials have been approved for testing genetically altered tobacco plants that can survive the spraying of chemical herbicides that kill surrounding weeds, the Agriculture Department has announced.
Donald L. Houston, administrator of the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said permits were issued to Calgene Inc., of Davis, Calif., which is to begin tests this month near Gila Bend, Ariz.
The chemical weedkillers are bromoxynil and glyphosate, which belong to a new generation of herbicides that degrade rapidly in the environment, Houston said. They are less toxic to animals than many other herbicides commonly used to fight weeds.
