The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a groundbreaking variety of genetically modified corn; YieldGard Plus, the first GM crop with the ability to control two different insect groups.
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Developed by biotech giant Monsanto, it enables the crop to protect itself from both leaf and stalk damage caused by insects such as the European corn borer (a moth), and from root damage caused by the corn rootworm (a beetle).
The EPA said it had conducted “a thorough investigation” and concluded that the variety poses no unreasonable risks of harm to human health and the environment, although its approval has been opposed by Greenpeace, which claimed that the regulator had failed to consider all the ecological implications of the product.
