EPA declares Bt residue on GM soybeans to be safe at all levels

Thursday, February 20, 2014 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: Bt residue, GM soybeans, Environmental Protection Agency

(NaturalNews) In another victory for the chemical industry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared that residue of Bt toxin from genetically modified (GM) Bt crops is permissible at all levels in soy foods for humans and soy feed for animals. The EPA has essentially relieved the biotechnology industry of all responsibility for this genetic poison in a final rule published on February 12, 2014, which exempts from residue tolerance requirements all soybeans currently grown for and processed into food.

The rule, which is open for public comment in the Federal Register until April 14, specifically exempts soybeans from having to contain less than a certain amount of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry1F protein residue in order to be considered safe. Under its new EPA designation, Bt toxin will now be considered a "plant-incorporated protectant" (PIP), which directly counters science by implying that GM-induced Bt toxin is somehow safe at all exposure levels.

"Dow AgroSciences LLC submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requesting an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance," explains the EPA in its rule summary. "This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1F protein in soybean under the FFDCA."

EPA exemption will allow Bt toxin in drinking water

What this means is that you and your family will now potentially be exposed to drastically higher levels of a poisonous bacterium protein that, while it does occur naturally in soil, was never meant to be inserted directly into the DNA of food crops. As a result, Bt toxin, which literally explodes the stomachs of insects that eat it, will not only be found inside GM corn kernels, GM soybeans and other GM products, but also on the outsides of soybeans, both GM and non-GM.

Since Bt toxin is already being found in the blood of pregnant women at a rate of around 93 percent, and in the umbilical cord blood of 80 percent of their babies, further eroding what little protection the public has against this poison contaminating the food supply illustrates for whom the EPA truly works. Bt toxin, as you may already know, has been linked to causing allergies, infections, inflammatory bowel disease and a host of other diseases.

"Residues of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1F protein in the food and feed commodities of corn, field; corn, sweet; corn, pop; cotton; and soybean are exempt from the requirement of a tolerance when used as a plant-incorporated protectant in corn, field; corn, sweet; corn, pop; cotton, and soybean," reads the new federal statute, which you can view in its entirety here:
FederalRegister.gov.

Oppose EPA exemption for Bt toxin by signing federal docket before April 14

Even though this EPA action is considered a final rule, the agency is still accepting public comments on it until April 14. Objections and requests for hearings must be received by the EPA on or before this date, and members of the public are free to submit comments via mail at the following address:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

EPA Docket Center
Docket No. EPA-HQ-OPP-2013-0704, Mail Code 28221T
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20460-0001

You can also comment on the proposed exemption online by visiting Regulations.gov.

(If you have any trouble with this direct link, visit the home page instead and search for Docket No. EPA-HQ-OPP-2013-0704.)

Sources for this article include:

http://www.cornucopia.org

http://www.greenmedinfo.com

http://www.federalregister.gov

http://science.naturalnews.com