The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced the deregulation of a cotton
variety from Bayer CropScience genetically engineered (GE) for resistance to
the herbicides glyphosate and p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase
(HPPD)-Inhibitors such as isoxaflutole.

APHIS prepared a draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA), draft
environmental assessment (EA), preliminary finding of no significant impact
(FONSI), and a preliminary determination of nonregulated status. These
documents were available for a 30-day public review and comment period on
June 7, 2018. After considering the public comments, APHIS has determined it
is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk and is deregulating this variety of GE
cotton.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), APHIS conducted a
thorough review of the potential environmental impacts and prepared a final
EA, and concluded in its final PPRA that this variety of GE cotton is
unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agricultural crops or other plants in
the United States.

[www.aphis.usda.gov]
8/sa_07/ge-cotton-deregulation