The American Soybean Association sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on April 11 urging the administration to press the European Commission to approve three biotech soybean products that have been waiting for final approval since January.

The products:

-MON87705 x MON89788, a Monsanto product, is dicamba x glyphosate resistance. It is approved in China and is being planted by U.S. farmers.

-MON87708 x MON89788 is a Vistive Gold product. It is high-oleic x glyphosate resistance being grown by U.S. farmers to provide trans-fat free soybean oil for the food industry.

Three biotech soybean products are awaiting EU Commission approval. (Photo: Yelena Yemchuk)

 -FG72, from Bayer CropScience, is isoxaflutole and glyphosate resistance, which is a soybean being grown for seed increase multiplication with an expected commercial launch this fall.

“Approval of these events is needed now for the EU Commission to have any semblance of a working biotech approval process,” the letter reads. “. . . Timely approval by the European Commission also will avoid the risk of unnecessary costs and disruption to the essential supply of feedstocks needed by the EU’s livestock, poultry and feed industries, which are more than 70% dependent on imports of protein.”

Source: ASA