Soya

RR soya has been engineered to make the plant resistant to the herbicide glyphosate. Glyphosate is marketed under the trade name 'Roundup', which is also manufactured by Monsanto. Roundup can now be used to kill weeds in soya bean crops without harming the soya bean plants themselves.

It was first approved for planting in the US 1994 and subsequently in Canada, Argentina and Mexico. In 1996, RR soya was grown commercially for the first time by farmers in the US and Argentina. It was granted market approval (for import and processing into non-viable soya bean fractions only) in the EU and in Japan in 1996.

Consent to allow the growing and/or import of RR soya was based on information provided by Monsanto. Government authorities in several countries have accepted this information from Monsanto and given consent for its commercial use. However, since the mid 1990s there have been a series of discoveries of irregularities and unexpected effects with the RR soya, adding to doubts over its environmental safety.

Protecting Soya:

The importation of GE soya into a centre of origin and/or diversity for soya poses the risk of genetic contamination of valuable soya diversity. China is the centre of origin and the centre of diversity for soybeans, with more than 6,000 wild soya varieties, constituting over 90 percent of the global total. GE soya contamination in China would result in similar ecological and cultural damage as GE maize contamination in Mexico.

Although China does not allow the commercial growing of GE soya and has decided to keep its major soya-growing region in the northeast GE free, contaminated imports obviously present a serious risk to China's soya diversity. GE soya varieties have been approved for planting in Canada, the US and Argentina. These varieties include Bayer's LibertyLink soya (glufosinate tolerant), Monsanto's Roundup Ready soya (glyphosate tolerant) and DuPont's soya.


In-Depth:

China Cyber Wall - Protecting the Homeland of Soya

China - protecting the homeland of Soya

Roundup Ready Soya - what more can go wrong?

Monsanto & Genetic Engineering - Risks for Investors (Exec summary)