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

<p style="text-align: justify;">High oleic soybean lines derived from sublines G94-1, G94-19 and G168 were field tested in the United States (1995-1996), Canada, Puerto Rico and Chile. Field test data concerning yields, visual observations of agronomic properties including susceptibility to diseases and insects indicated high oleic soybeans were within the range normally displayed by non-modified varieties.</p>

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

<p style="text-align: justify;">Gene introgression from transformed soybean sublines G94-1, G94-19 and G168 is 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 G94-1, G94-19 and G168.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Cultivated soybean Glycine max naturally hybridizes with the wild annual species <i>G. soja</i>. Although <i>G. soja</i> is endemic 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 high oleic acid from the transgenic sublines 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 sublines G94-1, G94-19 and G168, other than that conferred by high levels of oleic acid in the seed. Non-modified soybean varieties do not show any special weediness characteristics and modifying the fatty acid composition only in the seeds would not be expected to have any effect on weediness, nor in any other way be harmful to the environment. It was concluded that soybean lines G94-1, G94-19 and G168 had no altered weed or 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 sublines G94-1, G94-19 and G168 revealed no negative effects on nontarget organisms, suggesting that the relatively higher levels of the oleic acid in the tissues of these sublines are not toxic to organisms. Indirect metabolic alterations caused by the genetic modification were assessed and determined to have no impact on nontarget organisms. Furthermore, the lack of known toxicity of oleic acid suggests no potential for deleterious effects on beneficial organisms. It was determined that genetically modified soybean lines G94-1, G94-19 and G168 did not have a significant adverse impact on organisms beneficial to plants or agriculture, or on nontarget organisms, and were not expected to impact on threatened or endangered species.</p>

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

<p style="text-align: justify;">Sublines G94-1, G94-19 and G168 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 the continental United States and since soybean is not an invasive species, the novel trait will not be transferred to plant species in unmanaged environments.</p>
