MUSINA – An American company this week announced its intention to proceed with a contained release field trial of genetically modified cotton cultivars in the Limpopo Valley.

According to an announcement published in Musina, a company called Emergent Genetics, located in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States of America, applied for the trial release of genetically modified organisms as part of a larger field trial program to evaluate the performance of bollworm and herbicide-resistant cotton under different environmental conditions.

The trial release will occur near Musina and near Marble Hall.

The trial in the Limpopo Valley will be conducted some 60km west of Musina, on some 8ha, one kilometre from the Limpopo River.

In each case, the trial area will be surrounded by twelve meters of non-transgenic cotton. Once the trial cotton has been harvested, all resulting seed will be acid-delinted, double packaged and shipped to the USA. All plant material remaining in the field, including the non-transgenic border rows, will be destroyed.

In the published announcement, all interested parties are requested to submit their comments or objections to the Registrar, Genetically Modified Organisms, Private Bag X973, Pretoria