Pesticide Potpourri

• The Cornucopia Institute, which serves as a watchdog organization for organic food, filed a motion in late fall which accuses Wal-Mart of selling non-organic food as “organic.”  The institute has a photograph posted on its Web site which shows “all-natural” Stonyfield Farms yogurt displayed in an organic dairy case.  The group first noticed that this was happening in Wal-Mart’s upscale-market test store in Plano, TX.  Visits to other Midwestern stores confirmed that other non-organic products were incorrectly displayed as organic.  The institute had sent Wal-Mart a letter in late summer asking them to correct the inconsistencies, but the same problems were found nearly three months later.  (Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, 11/27/06).
•  Scientists at the University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil have confirmed that wild poinsettia has become resistant to the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup®).  They confirmed the existence of about 50 to 70 acres of the plants within the main soybean growing area of the country.  As the first Brazilian plant to become resistant to the herbicide, researchers there said it was not surprising, as this plant is historically prone to developing resistance, which it has to ALS and PPO inhibitors.  In the U.S., wild poinsettia is a problem in southern peanut production.  (The Grower, December, 2006). 

•  An Asian butterfly, the lime swallowtail, known for ravaging the leaves of young citrus trees has spread from the Dominican Republic to other Caribbean islands and could soon strike fruit producers in Florida.  Although a Harvard biology professor led a field study that found it in the Dominican Republic three years ago, an APHIS official in Santo Domingo was quoted as saying, “I don't think the (Dominican agriculture) ministry is doing anything.  They don't see it as a problem.”  U.S. officials worry the pest could be brought into the U.S. by a tourist or with illegally transported fruit.  Known as a strong flier suited for island hopping in Asia, the butterfly might also manage the trip on its own.  (AP, 1/5/07). 

•  Scientists with the Barbadian Agriculture Ministry were cited as saying that Icerya genistae, a tiny, oval-shape scale insect that is believed to be native to Brazil, and is so obscure that it has no common name, is sucking the life out of crops and native plants across Barbados, which has already been overrun by an infestation of ravenous snails.  A government entomologist stated that the sap-sucking pest has attacked 21 varieties of wild plants, ornamentals and vegetables.  Peanut, sweet pepper, tomato, and eggplant have all been affected by the pest.  (AP, 11/30/06). 

•  Ironically in California, increased adoption of sustainable agricultural practices have resulted in more pounds of pesticides applied on the ground.  In 2005, wet weather contributed to higher pesticide use as farmers applied more fungicides, especially sulfur, to stifle mold and mildew.  Total pesticides used by commercial applicators in California rose nearly 8 percent in 2005 to more than 194 million pounds, compared with 180 million pounds the year before, according to the annual state report.  Sulfur, a low-toxicity material approved for organic use, accounted for half the increase.  San Joaquin County saw larger relative gains, primarily because of the weather and the fact that sulfur is commonly applied on grapes, one of the county's leading crops.  There pesticide applications rose to 1.87 million pounds, up more than 18 percent, from 1.45 million pounds in 2004.  Sulfur accounted for nearly 80 percent of the jump.  Wet weather was one major factor, said Gary Stockel, deputy agricultural commissioner for San Joaquin.  The other was a significant increase in vineyard acreage.  (The Record, 11/30/06). 

•  A transgenic Bt cotton (Sukang-103) and its non-Bt cotton counterpart (Sumian-12) were investigated to evaluate the potential risk of transgenes on the soil ecosystem.  The activities of urease, phosphatase, dehydrogenase, phenol oxidase, and protease in cotton rhizosphere were assayed during the vegetative, reproductive, and senescing stages of cotton growth and after harvest.  A Biolog system was used to evaluate the functional diversity of microbial communities in soils after a complete cotton growth cycle.  Enzymic activities in soils amended with cotton biomass were also assayed.  Results showed that there were few significant differences in enzyme activities between Bt and non-Bt cottons at any of the growth stages and after harvest.  Soil amendment with cotton biomass enhanced soil enzyme activities, but there were no significant difference between Bt and non-Bt cotton; the richness of the microbial communities in rhizosphere soil did not differ between Bt and the non-Bt cotton, and the functional diversity of microbial communities were not different in rhizosphere soils between Bt and non-Bt cotton.  All results suggested that there was no evidence to indicate any adverse effects of Bt cotton on the soil ecosystem in this study.  (AgBioView, 12/1/06). 

•  The Brazilian subsidiary of U.S. biotech multinational Monsanto is conducting studies into new, transgenic sugarcane varieties, with an eye to entering the potentially lucrative market, a spokeswoman for Monsanto do Brasil confirmed in early December.  “There are ongoing studies, since it's an interesting market, but there is nothing concrete yet,” the spokeswoman said in an e-mail to Dow Jones Newswires.  A report in a local newspaper added that Monsanto - which sells its transgenic Roundup® Ready soy variety in Brazil - has already formed a partnership with an unnamed local company to develop genetically modified sugarcane varieties.  If the U.S. multinational does enter Brazil's sugarcane sector, it would mark an evolution from the company's current focus on developing genetically modified, or GM, varieties of soybean, cotton and grains, say local analysts.  (Dow Jones, 12/07/06). 

•  An official with the Chinese Intellectual Property Office agricultural and chemistry section was cited as telling a forum in December that Chinese pesticide producers are lagging behind the rest of the world in applying for patents even though the country is the world's second largest pesticide producer.  Statistics were cited when stating that of all the pesticide patent applications handled by the Chinese government, applications submitted by foreign companies were about five times that of Chinese companies, with the official quoted as saying, “The lack of awareness in patent protection will hinder the development of Chinese pesticide companies, as the sector has been fully opened to foreign competitors.”  A similar problem was evident in China's chemical fertilizer industry, which registered the world's biggest output and became fully open to foreign competition on December 11 under China's WTO commitment.  (English News Service, 12/17/06). 

•  The Government Accounting Office released a letter in mid-December that had been sent to Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee on November 14, 2006, detailing discontent among agriculture inspectors that were transitioned to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 under the banner of the newly created Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program.  A survey was taken of the 1,800 agriculture specialists who were moved from USDA to CBP and “... ‘Nothing is going well’ was the second most frequent response to the question on what is going well.”  An estimated 29 percent of agriculture specialists were concerned that the agriculture mission is declining because CBP has not given it adequate priority.  Fifty-nine percent of experienced specialists indicated that they are doing either somewhat or many fewer inspections since the transfer, and 60 percent indicated that they are doing somewhat or many fewer interceptions.  Sixty-four percent of these specialists indicated that they do not believe that CBP management respects their work, which is to assure that U.S. agriculture is protected from pests and disease.  (Lean Trimmings, 12/18/06).

•  With the two leading peanut-producing countries, China and India, working aggressively on transgenic peanuts, the American Peanut Council and its research arm, the Peanut Foundation, approved in December a major policy change and urged scientists to move ahead with “due diligence” on genetically engineered peanuts.  The work is expected to cost about $9.5 million and will require university, government and industry support.  The foundation also called for additional genome studies to learn more about the location and function of the natural peanut genes.  Howard Valentine, the Peanut Foundation's executive director, was quoted as saying, “There is a sense in the industry that genetically modified products are becoming slightly more accepted in most of the world and that by the time we would have the first genetically modified peanut on the market - five years - that trend will have accelerated.”  (AP, 12/26/06).