<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Field Testing</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Transgenic soybean lines W62 and W98 were field tested in the United States from 1990-1993 and field trial reports from these tests demonstrated that the transformed lines did not exhibit weedy characteristics, and had no effect on nontarget organisms or the general environment.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Outcrossing</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Gene introgression from transformed soybean lines W62 and W98 was extremely unlikely as there are no relatives of cultivated soybean in the continental United States and Canada, and soybean plants are almost completely self-pollinated. Furthermore, the reproductive characteristics such as pollen production and viability were unchanged by the genetic modification resulting in W62 and W98.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Cultivated soybean, <i>Glycine max</i>, naturally hybridizes with the wild annual species <i>G. soja</i>. Although <i>G. soja</i> is native to China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the former USSR it is not naturalized in North America, although it may possibly be grown in research plots. It was concluded that the potential for transfer of the herbicide tolerant trait from the transgenic lines to soybean relatives through gene flow was negligible in managed ecosystems, and that there was no potential for transfer to wild species in Canada and continental United States.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Weediness Potential</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">No competitive advantage was conferred to lines W62 and W98 other than that conferred by tolerance to glufosinate ammonium. Resistance to glufosinate ammonium will not, in itself, render soybean weedy or invasive of natural habitats since none of the reproductive or growth characteristics were modified. In the unlikely event of the formation of a herbicide tolerant hybrid, there would be no competitive advantage conferred on any hybrid progeny in the absence of sustained glufosinate ammonium use. The glufosinate ammonium tolerant plant would easily be controlled by mechanical means or by using alternative herbicides. Cultivated soybean is highly unlikely to establish in non-cropped habitats and there have been no reports of soybean surviving as a weed or exhibiting weed-like characteristics. It was concluded that soybean lines W62 and W98, had no altered weed of invasiveness potential compared to commercial soybean varieties.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Secondary and Non-Target Adverse Effects</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Field observations of soybean lines W62 and W98 did not have a significant adverse impact on organisms beneficial to plants or agriculture, nontarget organisms, these events were not expected to impact on threatened or endangered species The PAT enzyme responsible for glufosinate ammonium tolerance that confers glufosinate resistance in transgenic soybean lines is normally not present in soybeans and is not known to have any toxic property. The lack of known toxicity for this enzyme suggests no potential for deleterious effects on beneficial organisms. The high specificity of the enzyme for its substrates makes it unlikely that the introduced enzyme would metabolize endogenous substrates to produce compounds toxic to beneficial organisms.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Impact on Biodiversity</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Soybean lines W62 and W98 have no novel phenotypic characteristics that would extend their use beyond the current geographic range of soybean production. Since there are no wild relatives of soybean in Canada and continental United States and since soybean is not an invasive species, the novel trait will not be transferred to species in unmanaged environments.</p>
