
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995                   TAG: 9505080089
SECTION: NATL/ITNL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

NEW POTATO KILLS ITS OWN BEETLES

A potato that has been genetically doctored to kill its No. 1 insect pest was given final government clearance Friday and should reach supermarkets in the fall of 1996.

The Environmental Protection Agency approved full commercial production of Monsanto Co.'s NewLeaf potato, which has been genetically altered to produce a naturally occurring toxin, already used by organic producers and home gardeners, to kill the Colorado potato beetle. It is the first pesticide-producing crop to win approval.

Monsanto developed the potato by introducing genetic material from Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil bacterium. The Colorado potato beetle is the leading cause of insect damage to the nation's potato crop, especially in the East and Upper Midwest.

By using the natural pesticide, which is harmless to humans, birds, other animals and beneficial insects, a farmer can use fewer of the more environmentally harmful and less efficient conventional pesticides.

The agency already has given Monsanto permission to grow seed potatoes for harvest in the fall. Those potatoes will be planted next spring for a 1996 harvest.

by CNB