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

<p style="text-align: justify;">Soybean event 356043 has been field-tested in the United States, Canada, and Japan. During the field tests, several phenotypic characteristics were evaluated, including early population, seedling vigor, days to maturity, plant height, lodging, pod shattering, final population, and yield. The statistical analysis of these observations showed no biologically meaningful differences between soybean 356043 and the control plant and supports a conclusion of phenotypic equivalence to currently commercialized soybean lines. The seed dormancy and germination of soybean event 356043 were compared with the control, and no significant differences were detected in percent germinated seed, percent dead seed, and percent viable firm, swollen seed and viable hard seed. Viable hard seed was not observed in seed germination and seed viability tests of soybean event 356043. Data on the susceptibility to a range of insect pests and diseases, and response to abiotic stressors were also recorded. No increase or decrease outside of the reference range was observed in any insect or abiotic stressor in soybean event 356043.</p>

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

<p style="text-align: justify;">Pollen-mediated gene flow and introgression from transformed soybean line 356043 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 356043 soybean.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Cultivated soybean, Glycine max, naturally hybridizes with the wild annual species G. soja. However, G. soja is only found naturally occurring in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the former USSR, and 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 tolerance traits from the transgenic line 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 the continental United States.</p>

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

<p style="text-align: justify;">Soybean (G. max) is not considered a weed and it does not persist in unmanaged ecosystems. In the United States, soybean is not listed as a weed in the major weed references and has been grown throughout the world without any report that it is a serious weed. Agronomic and phenotypic data collected from 16 field trial locations in North America over the 2004 and 2005 growing seasons indicated that 356043 was not different in any fitness characteristics from its parent that might cause 356043 to become invasive. There were no data indicating that the presence of the gat4601 or gm-hra genes improved the ability of this soybean line to survive without human intervention, nor is there any foreseeable reason to conclude that these genes would affect this line&rsquo;s survival in the wild. The combination of phenotypic data and ecological observations supported a conclusion of agronomic and phenotypic comparability of 356043 soybean to conventional soybean varieties with respect to the lack of increased weed or plant pest potential.</p>

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

<p style="text-align: justify;">Considering that GAT4601 and GM-HRA proteins lack the properties of known toxins or allergens, there should be no significant impacts to the environment or to non-target organisms, including threatened and endangered species from the introduction of 356043 soybean.</p>

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

<p style="text-align: justify;">Analysis of available information demonstrates that 356043 does not exhibit any traits that should cause increased weediness, and that its unconfined cultivation should not lead to increased weediness of other sexually compatible relatives, of which there are none in North America. Soybean event 356043 has no effect on non-target organisms common to the agricultural ecosystem. Glyphosate use and crop production practices are not expected to change significantly, therefore there should be no indirect or cumulative effect on biodiversity related to these practices. Use of ALS-inhibitor herbicides will likely increase in order to manage glyphosate-tolerant weed populations, but the use of glyphosate and ALS-inhibitors on 356043 soybean according to product labels is not expected to cause significant impacts on biodiversity outside the agroecosystem based on the chemical and toxicological properties of these products.</p>
