MON 810 facts for kids
The MON 810 corn is a genetically modified maize used around the world. It is a Zea mays line known as YieldGard from the company Monsanto. This plant is a genetically modified organism (GMO) designed to combat crop loss due to insects. There is an inserted gene in the DNA of MON 810 which allows the plant to make a protein that harms insects that try to eat it. The inserted gene is from the Bacillus thuringiensis which produces the Bt protein that is poisonous to insects in the order Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), including the European Corn Borer.
These genetically modified plants with Bt protein are grown on a large scale around the world. Monsanto’s corn line MON 810 is produced by ballistically transforming another corn line with a plasmid, PV-ZMCT10. This plasmid has a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter and hsp70 maize intron sequences which drive the expression of the Cry1Ab gene. The gene then codes for delta endotoxins (Cry proteins) which are toxins that are very potent and provoke lesions in the cell membrane causing cell death. These produced Bt proteins bind to certain localized sites on the epithelium of the midgut of insects. Proteins need specific receptors on cells in order to form the Cry proteins and become toxic, which is why the toxins are specific for the order Lepidoptera. The receptors are important for binding the toxic protein and starting the signal cascade, but the exact mechanism of these toxins is not well understood.
Authorized use
It was approved for use in the European Union in 1998. Since then, six countries have grown it (Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania) and six countries (Austria, Hungary, Greece, France, Luxembourg, and Germany) have banned its cultivation (imports were still allowed) under an emergency temporary provision known as the 'Safeguard Clause' due to concerns that it causes environmental damage.
In Italy its cultivation has been banned since July 12, 2013, when the Italian Health minister required the suspension of the authorization of GM maize's cultivation, in reaction to a scientific report by the Italian Agricultural Research Council (CRA) about the insecticide producing GM maize. In Poland the cultivation of GMO crops has been banned since January 28, 2013.
MON 810 is approved for use in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the European Union (where approval is also required by member states), Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Switzerland, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Uruguay.
On 24 February 2016 an open letter of concern was written to the DG Health and Food Safety (SANTE,)European Commission regarding new invasive species (acclaimed ancestor of cultivated maize, teosinte) in Spain that can outcross with genetically modified maize (MON 810)
See also
In Spanish: MON 810 para niños
