[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 98 (Monday, May 23, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-12526]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: May 23, 1994]
VOL. 59, NO. 98
Monday, May 23, 1994
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 92-127-3]
Public Meeting; Availability of Environmental Assessment and
Preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact for Determination of
Nonregulated Status of Upjohn Co., ZW-20 Virus Resistant Squash
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is
announcing that a public meeting will be held to discuss an
environmental assessment and preliminary finding of no significant
impact prepared for a determination of nonregulated status for a
genetically engineered virus-resistant squash line designated ``ZW-20
squash.'' APHIS will be accepting public comments on the environmental
assessment. APHIS has previously requested public comments on any plant
pest risk issues presented by the ZW-20 squash. The environmental
assessment and preliminary finding indicate no significant impact on
the environment from the determination that the ZW-20 squash does not
present a plant pest risk and should no longer be regulated under
APHIS' regulations. Based on this preliminary finding of no significant
impact, APHIS has determined that an environmental impact statement
need not be prepared for the issuance of this determination.
DATES: The public meeting will be held in Washington, DC, on Tuesday,
June 21, 1994, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 4 p.m. local time.
Consideration will be given only to comments received on or before July
7, 1994, regarding the environmental assessment.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Jefferson Auditorium,
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), South Building, 14th
Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC. The following
documents may be inspected at USDA, room 1141, South Building, 14th
Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays: Copies of the
environmental assessment and preliminary finding of no significant
impact, the petition submitted by the Upjohn Company, and the comments
received in response to our September, 1992, and March, 1993, Federal
Register notices. Persons wishing to inspect these documents are
requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. James White, Biotechnology
Permits, BBEP, APHIS, USDA, room 850 Federal Building, 6505 Belcrest
Road, Hyattsville, MD 20782, (301) 436-7612. For a copy of the
environmental assessment and preliminary finding of no significant
impact, please call Ms. Kay Peterson at (301) 436-7601, or write to Ms.
Peterson at this address.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 4, 1992, the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a notice of proposed
interpretive ruling (57 FR 40632-40633, Docket No. 92-127-1) in
response to a petition from the Upjohn Company (Upjohn), Kalamazoo, MI,
for a determination of regulatory status of its ZW-20 virus-resistant
squash line. After considering the comments submitted during the 30-day
comment period, APHIS determined that it was in the public interest to
reopen the comment period to examine scientific issues raised by the
commenters. A notice was published in the Federal Register on March 22,
1993 (58 FR 15323, Docket No. 92-127-2), requesting additional
information on eight issues raised by respondents to Docket No. 92-127-
1. On March 31, 1993 (58 FR 17044-17059, Docket No. 92-156-2), APHIS
amended its regulations in 7 CFR part 340 by establishing a petition
process. The petition process allows for a determination that certain
plants are no longer regulated articles, and formalizes the
interpretive ruling procedure which was in place when the original
petition for the ZW-20 squash was submitted. To provide for a thorough
review of comments and information submitted to APHIS on the ZW-20
squash, APHIS is convening a public meeting to provide a forum for an
open discussion of the issues analyzed in the environmental assessment.
Procedures for the Public Meeting
Any interested person may appear and may be heard in person, by
attorney, or by other representative. The meeting will be held in the
Jefferson Auditorium, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington,
DC, on June 21, 1994, from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m.
until 4 p.m., local time. However, the meeting may conclude earlier if
all persons who have requested an opportunity to speak have been heard.
Persons who wish to speak should register at the meeting location with
the presiding officer before the meeting. Pre-meeting registration will
begin at 8 a.m., local time, on the day of the meeting at the meeting
site. Persons who have registered will be heard in the order of their
registration. Attendees who do not register in advance will be allowed
to speak after all scheduled speakers have been heard. We ask that
anyone who reads a statement provide two copies to the presiding
officer at the meeting. The presiding officer may limit the time for
each presentation in order to allow everyone wishing to speak the
opportunity to be heard.
Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Finding of No Significant
Impact
APHIS regulations at 7 CFR part 340, which were promulgated
pursuant to 7 U.S.C. 150aa-150jj, 151-167, and 1622n, and 31 U.S.C.
9701, regulate the introduction (importation, interstate movement, and
release into the environment) of certain genetically engineered
organisms and products. The regulations at Sec. 340.6 provide for a
petition process for issuing a determination that certain plants that
do not present a plant pest risk no longer need to be regulated.
The crookneck squash (Cucurbita pepo L. cultivar YC77E ZW-20)(ZW-
20), developed by Upjohn, has been considered a regulated article under
7 CFR part 340, in part because it has been engineered with coat
protein (CP) from watermelon mosaic virus 2 (WMV2) and zucchini yellow
mosaic virus (ZYMV), and in part because the vector system used to
transfer viral CP genes into the recipient squash was derived from the
bacterial plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens. In addition,
certain noncoding regulatory sequences were derived from plant
pathogens, i.e., from A. tumefaciens and from cauliflower mosaic virus
and cucumber mosaic virus. Field tests of the ZW-20 squash have been
conducted under APHIS permits each year from 1990 through 1994 under
conditions of reproductive confinement. The environmental assessments
(EAs) prepared by APHIS in conjunction with the issuance of permits for
field tests of ZW-20 have addressed various attributes of the squash
line. The EA to be addressed at the public meeting examines the
potential environmental impacts that might be associated with the
unconfined cultivation of ZW-20 squash, as requested in the petition
from Upjohn. The effect of a determination favorable to the petition
would be that permits under the regulations would no longer be required
from APHIS for field testing, importation, or interstate movement of
these squash or their progeny. Importation of ZW-20 squash or seeds
capable of propagation would still be subject to restrictions found in
the Foreign Quarantine Notices at 7 CFR part 319. The findings that
support a preliminary finding of no significant impact on the
environment from a determination that the ZW-20 squash would no longer
be a regulated article include the following:
1. Growing ZW-20 squash would present no significant increase in
the development of new plant viruses as compared to plants infected
with both ZYMV and WMV2;
2. The ability of ZW-20 squash to resist infection by WMV2 and ZYMV
should not lead to this squash becoming a weed pest;
3. Pollination of free-living Cucurbita pepo (FLCP) plants by the
ZW-20 squash is not likely to increase the weediness of any resultant
progeny;
4. Introgression and maintenance of the virus resistance trait from
ZW-20 squash into the gene pool of FLCP is unlikely. Based upon surveys
of FLCP, the incidence of pathology or disease resulting from infection
by ZYMV or WMV2 is not high enough to result in a selective pressure
that would maintain the resistance genes in FLCP populations;
5. APHIS cannot identify any impacts on nontarget organisms
recognized as beneficial from the unconfined cultivation of ZW-20
squash; and
6. The release of ZW-20 squash from regulation would have no
identifiable impact on agricultural commodities.
The environmental assessment and preliminary finding of no
significant impact have been prepared in accordance with: (1) The
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.), (2) Regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality for
Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-
1508), (3) USDA Regulations Implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (4)
APHIS Guidelines Implementing NEPA (44 FR 50381-50384, August 28, 1979,
and 44 FR 51272-51274, August 31, 1979).
Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of May 1994.
William S. Wallace,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 94-12526 Filed 5-20-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P