United States Department of Agriculture, “Monsanto Petitions (10-188-01p and 12-185-01p) for Determinations of  Nonregulated Status for Dicamba-Resistant Soybean and Cotton Varieties: Final Environmental Impact Statement,”
December 2014.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) received two requests (petitions) from Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO (Monsanto) seeking determinations of nonregulated status for genetically engineered (GE) plant varieties referred to as MON 87708 soybean and MON 88701 cotton, that have been engineered to be resistant to the herbicide dicamba (Monsanto, 2012b; 2012a). These GE plant varieties are currently regulated by APHIS, and Monsanto requests that APHIS grant the petitions (Petition 10-188-01p for MON 87708 soybean and Petition 12-185-01p for MON 88701 cotton), so that these varieties can be grown without any APHIS regulatory oversight. Since these two GE plant varieties are currently under APHIS regulatory oversight, the Agency requires
Monsanto to comply with a full range of safeguarding measures to ensure that these regulated GE plant varieties do not transfer or spread from their APHIS-approved outdoor planting sites. APHIS authorization is also required to move these regulated varieties interstate. Once a developer of a GE plant has obtained sufficient information to conclude that its regulated GE plant is unlikely to cause injury, damage, or disease to plants or plant products (i.e., pose a plant pest risk), it may submit a petition to APHIS to no longer regulate the organism. This is referred to as seeking nonregulated status. If a petition for nonregulated status is approved by APHIS, permits or notifications are no longer required by the Agency to grow or ship the GE plant throughout the United States and its territories. If APHIS determines that nonregulated status is appropriate for one or both the Monsanto GE varieties, they will no longer be subject to any regulations pursuant to  Part 340.  FULL TEXT