Implementation of a post-market monitoring for insect-protected maize MON 810 in the EU

Monsanto has developed an alternative to traditional insecticides for the control of lepidopteran insect pests, with reduced impact on the environment, by genetically modifying maize plants to produce the insecticidal protein Cry1Ab from the common soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki(B. t. k.). These insect-protected maize plants, called MON 810, guard against foliage feeding and stalk tunneling from the European corn borer (ECB) (Ostrinia nubilalis(Hubner)) and the pink stem borer (Sesamia nonagrioides). Starting in 2005, Monsanto has undertaken a general surveillance (GS), monitoring programme of MON 810 cultivation on a voluntary basis, anticipating possible mandatory requirement for post-market environmental monitoring in all applications for deliberate release submitted under Directive 2001/18/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 (including the application for renewal of the MON 810 consent). The experience gathered with the implementation of this first implementation on a GM plant cultivated at commercial scale in the European Union brought practical insight for future programmes, including the one from 2006. The analysis of the information collected during the 2006 general surveillance of MON 810 did confirm the absence of potential adverse effects related to MON 810 plants and their cultivation.