European Corn Borer Resistant Corn

European Corn Borer Resistant Corn is genetically engineered Bt corn. It has been genetically engineered to produce an insecticidal protein that is naturally made by a bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), in every cell of the plant. The Bt protein the corn produces kills lepidopteran insects, including the European corn borer. However, by 2011, pests evolved resistance to Bt.

Timeline
1995:
 * May 17: U.S. deregulates Ciba Seeds Event 176 Corn, engineered to produce a CryIA(b) protein
 * August 22: U.S. deregulates Monsanto's MON 80100, engineered to produce a CryCIA(b) protein

1996:
 * January 18: U.S. deregulates Northrup King's glufosinate tolerant Bt11 Corn, engineered to produce a cry1Ab protein
 * Syngenta commercializes the Bt11 corn, branding it "Agrisure CB."
 * March 15: U.S. deregulates Monsanto's MON 809 and MON 810, engineered to produce a Cry1Ab protein
 * December 18: EU approves Ciba-Geigy's GE corn as either a seed or a food and promises to draft proposals requiring genetically modified foods to be labeled. The approved corn "has been altered to resist the corn borer pest and the herbicide glufosinate, and contains a marker gene that is resistant to ampicillin. It has already been approved in the US, and is used in around 0.5% of the nation's corn-growing area."

1997:
 * Monsanto Commercializes MON 810 as "YieldGard Corn Borer insect-protected corn."
 * March 28: U.S. deregulates DeKalb Genetics Corporation's Glufosinate Tolerant Bt Corn line DBT418, which is engineered to produce a CryIA(c) protein.
 * May 27: U.S. deregulates Monsanto's MON 802, engineered to produce a CryIA(b) protein.

1998:
 * Wensman Seed commercializes Event 176 corn.
 * Monsanto Commercializes "Stacked" YieldGard/Roundup Ready Corn
 * May 8: U.S. deregulates AgrEvo's Glufosinate Tolerant Bt Corn CBH-351, which produces a Cry9C protein

2001:
 * June 14: U.S. Deregulates of Mycogen/Dow/Pioneer's glufosinate tolerant Bt Corn TC1507, which produces a Cry1F protein

2003:
 * Dow/Pioneer Commercializes TC1507, branding it "Herculex I."

2004:
 * Monsanto Commercializes "YieldGard Plus" corn, which combines two different Bt corn products (European corn borer resistance via MON 810 and Corn Rootworm resistance via MON 863) in one seed
 * October 20: Deregulation of Mycogen/Dow's glufosinate tolerant Bt Corn TC6275

2005:
 * Monsanto introduced "YieldGard Plus with Roundup Ready Corn 2," a corn seed with three different genetically engineered traits ("triple stacked"), including a Bt trait that kills European corn borers (MON 810), a second Bt trait to kill corn rootworms (MON 863), and the ability to withstand being sprayed with glyphosate herbicide.

2006:
 * Monsanto and Dow sign an agreement to cross-license intellectual property, making the way for future GMOs with traits from both companies together in the same seed.

2008:
 * July 24: U.S. deregulates Monsanto's MON 89034, which produces cry1A.105 and cry2Ab2 proteins.

2010:
 * Monsanto launches "Genuity" brand. Genuity products with European Corn Borer resistance traits include Genuity™ VT Double PRO™, Genuity® VT-Triple Pro™, and Genuity™ SmartStax™, which all contain the MON 89034 trait.
 * Due to a cross-licensing agreement with Monsanto, Dow also releases a SmartStax™ seed with the trait MON 89034.
 * April 20: U.S. deregulates of Syngenta's Bt corn line MIR162, which produces a VIP3Aa20 protein.

2011:
 * Monsanto begins selling seeds for genetically engineered sweet corn to U.S. farmers. Branded as "Seminis Performance Series Sweet Corn," the seeds contain the MON 89034 and MON88017 traits.

Commercialized Products
Several different varieties of European Corn Borer Resistant corn are sold. They include:

Monsanto:
 * Genuity® SmartStax® (MON 89034 + TC1507)
 * Genuity® VT-Double Pro® (MON 89034)
 * Genuity® VT-Triple Pro™ (MON 89034)
 * Genuity® VT-Triple ™ (MON 810)
 * Seminis Performance Series Sweet Corn (MON 89034)
 * YieldGard® Corn Borer (MON 810)
 * Monsanto YieldGard® Plus (MON 810)
 * YieldGard Corn Borer with Roundup Ready 2® (MON 810)

Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred:
 * Herculex I (TC1507)
 * Herculex® I Roundup Ready® Corn 2 (TC1507)
 * Herculex® Xtra (TC1507)
 * Herculex® Xtra Roundup® Corn 2 (TC1507)
 * SmartStax™ (MON 89034 and TC1507)

Pioneer Hi-Bred (DuPont):
 * Optimum® AcreMax® Insect Protection system (YieldGard Corn Borer, TC1507, and NK603)
 * Optimum® AcreMax® Xtra Insect Protection (YieldGard Corn Borer, TC1507, DAS59122-7, and NK603)

Syngenta:
 * Agrisure® CB/LL (Bt11)
 * Agrisure Viptera 3110 (MIR162 and Bt11)
 * Agrisure Viptera 3111 (MIR162 and Bt11)
 * Agrisure GT/CB/LL (Bt11)
 * Agrisure® CB/LL/RW (Bt11)
 * Agrisure® 3000GT (Bt11)

Different Bt Genes Used
The bacteria species Bacillus thurigiensis has many different subspecies, and each produces different proteins that are toxic to different types of insects. The first several varieties of European corn borer resistant corn (Ciba Seeds Event 176 Corn, Monsanto's MON 80100, MON 809, MON 810, and MON 802, Northrup King's Bt11 Corn, and DeKalb Genetics Corporation's DBT418) all used genes and proteins from the subspecies Bacillus thurigiensis kurstaki (Btk).

AgrEvo's variety CBH-351 uses a genes from a different subspecies, Bacillus thurigiensis tolworthi (Bt tolworthi). And Mycogen, Dow Agrosciences, and Pioneer Hi-Bred's varieties (Lines 1507 and 6275) both use genes from Bacillus thurigiensis aizawi (Bt aizawi).

Related SourceWatch articles

 * GE Corn
 * Biotechnology
 * Glyphosate
 * GMO Policies by Country
 * Herbicide Tolerant Crops
 * Bacillus thuringiensis
 * Bt-Resistant Insects
 * Genetically Modified Organisms
 * Monsanto
 * DuPont
 * Pioneer Hi-Bred
 * MON 810
 * MON 809

External resources

 * Know Before You Grow, National Corn Growers Association
 * A Compendium of Biotech Corn Traits, Purdue University.
 * GM Crop Database, Center for Environmental Risk Assessment
 * Overview of GMO Events Commercially Available and Regulatory Status
 * Novel Food Decisions - Approved Products, Health Canada.
 * Charles Benbrook, "Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use: The First Thirteen Years" and Supplemental Tables, The Organic Center, 2009.
 * "Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops," Union of Concerned Scientists, 2009.

External articles

 * G. Chandrashekhar, "Monsanto hopes India will clear Bt corn in 3 years," The Hindu, September 10, 2011.
 * Stephanie Bodoni, "French ban of modified maize dealt blow in court: Monsanto, 10 other companies, challenged action," STLToday.com, September 10, 2011.
 * Jack Kaskey, "Monsanto Corn Falls to Illinois Bugs as Investigation Widens," Bloomberg, September 2, 2011.
 * Clay Dillow, "Pests Are Developing Resistance to Monsanto's Engineered Supercorn," Popular Science, August 30, 2011.
 * Associated Press, "Monsanto shares slip on bug-resistant corn woes," Forbes, August 29, 2011.
 * Scott Kilman, "Monsanto Corn Plant Losing Bug Resistance," Wall Street Journal, August 29, 2011.
 * Dan Piller, "Beetle resistance reported to Monsanto BT corn," Des Moines Register, August 28, 2011.
 * Mike Gray, "Severe root damage to Bt corn confirmed in northwestern Illinois," Aces News, August 24, 2011.