Import and processing of herbicide tolerant cotton MON88913

COGEM was asked to advice on an application concerning the commericial import and processing for use in feed and food of a genetically modified cotton line. Cultivation is not part of this application.
The recombinant cotten line MON 88913 is genetically modified by insertion of two cp4 espsps genes. As a result, MON88913 confers tolerance to herbicides containing the active ingredient glyphosate. The cotton line is already commercially grown in the United States of America, Australia and South Africa.
No wild relatives of cotton are present in Europe. The modern cotton cultivars do’nt possess any of the attributes commonly associated with problematic weeds. There are no reasons to assume that the inserted genes increase the potential of the cotton to run wild. Furthermore, establishment of feral populations in cotton producing countries has never been observed. Cotton can’t survive the North-Western European climatological conditions. Cogem is of the opinion that the molecular characterisation is preformed adequately. Based on the molecular characterisation COGEM is of the opinion that there are noseasons to assume that incidental consumpion of the cotton line will pose a health risk.
In view of these considerations, COGEM is of the opinion that the proposed import and processing of cotton line MON88913 does not pose a significant risk for human health and the environment in the Netherlands.