In her OpEd column, “Bt corn: Rights and responsibilities” (BDN, Dec. 13), Logan Perkins calls for tight restrictions on the planting of the genetically modified, insect-resistant Bt corn recently approved by the Board of Pesticides Control. What she doesn’t say is that farmers have been planting other varieties of genetically modified corn in Maine responsibly for nearly 10 years. The Maine Department of Agriculture has a formal policy of coexistence that encourages farmers using different technologies to resolve any conflict in crop selection. The policy is working. There have been no complaints lodged with the department.

Nearly 70 percent of the corn now planted in the U.S. is genetically modified. Maine farmers testified before the BPC that they were falling behind because they couldn’t plant the higher producing Bt varieties in this state. Because science and 10 years of experience were squarely on the side of Bt corn, the BPC unanimously approved the corn in July. (One board member abstained.)

Now, opponents of the technology are pressuring the BPC to enact rules for planting Bt corn with all kinds of restrictions. It is a transparent attempt to gain through regulations what they could not stop in the approval process.

The BPC was right to approve Bt corn. Now, they should enact reasonable rules that also reflect science and the fact that farmers planting organic, conventional and genetically modified crops have peacefully coexisted in Maine for nearly 10 years.

Douglas R. Johnson, Ph.D.

Maine Biotechnology Information Bureau

Stonington