Dow to Launch New GMO Corn Variety Next Year
After securing import approval from Beijing, Dow Chemical Company will be launching its newest next-generation GMO corn variety - Enlist - in the U.S. and Canadian markets next year.
China announced its approval for two new GM crop varieties - Dow Chemical’s Enlist corn and Monsanto’s Vistive Gold soybeans - as of June 12. However, Dow still awaits approval for its Enlist soybeans, which are engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, the key active ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide.
The Enlist line is the largest launch for Dow AgroScience’s history and is considered a cornerstone that will support Dow in reaching its goal of seed sales of $600 million by 2020.
Receiving import approval from China for new crops usually takes about six years, but following a trade deal between the U.S. and China forged in May, China pledged to accelerate its approval process for new biotech crops and is expediting four products that have been awaiting approval for more than four years. Additionally, China announced that it has renewed import approvals for 14 other GM crops including Syngenta’s MIR162 Agrisure Viptera corn, a sugar beet developed by Monsanto, and three rapeseed varieties developed by Crop Science, a division of Bayer.
.png)