Groups to Sue EPA Over Risks of Using Bt Insecticide

A phalanx of environmental, farming and consumer groups plans to file suit today against the Environmental Protection Agency, contending that the agency has risked environmental calamity by approving plants genetically altered to produce a bug killer.

Of chief concern, the groups say, is the potential for bugs to develop resistance to the insecticide, a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis. Should that happen, they say, organic farmers would be left without one of their most potent crop-protection weapons.

“EPA has shown a blatant disregard for federal law and its own regulations by approving Bt crops without fully assessing their environmental safety,” said Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety, a nonprofit group in Washington that has joined more than 650 other organizations to mount the challenge.

EPA spokeswoman Denise Kearns defended the agency. “EPA carefully makes sure that the biotech products we review fully comply with all legal requirements designed to ensure that they are environmentally sound and environmentally beneficial,” she said.

Genetically altered Bt corn, cotton and potatoes contain genes that induce plants to exude the toxin that naturally occurring Bt uses to kill corn borers, Colorado potato beetles and other crop munchers.

Since early 1995, EPA has registered eight Bt crops developed by Monsanto Co. and Novartis, among other companies.

Bt has been valued for decades by organic and conventional farmers as a low-cost, low-risk pesticide that can be sprayed in emergencies to kill worms and bugs.

But genetically engineered Bt crops constantly produce the toxin at high levels, giving insects the chance to develop resistance in two to 10 years, according to the planned lawsuit. Resistance caused by bioengineered Bt plants would make Bt sprays ineffective.

Organic farmers say that would cripple them.

“My ability to provide consumers with quality organic produce should not be compromised for the short-term benefit of the biotech industry,” said Jim Gerritsen, a potato grower from Maine.

Late last year, an organic food company in Wisconsin had to swallow $147,000 in losses on European sales after Swiss tests showed that its tortilla chips contained genetically engineered Bt corn. The company suspects that corn grown by one of its organic farmers cross-pollinated with a Novartis Bt corn.

Many European nations refuse to accept products containing genetically engineered ingredients.

In the U.S., one requirement for organic certification is that a grower may not plant any genetically altered seed.