GreenLight Biosciences has been granted registration by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and several states for its Calantha product, designed to target and control Colorado potato beetle.

Calantha is a bioinsecticide based on RNA. The company says it breaks down quickly, degrading within three days and leaving no harmful residue on plants or in the environment, soil or waterways.

“Potato growers have expressed their struggle with managing the Colorado potato beetle due to increasing resistance to currently available chemical products. They want effective products that align with their sustainability targets. Calantha is the perfect fit,” said Mark Singleton, chief commercial officer and general manager of plant health with GreenLight Biosciences.

Consumption of the dsRNA (double-stranded ribonucleic acid) by the Colorado potato beetle causes it to stop eating and die from its own toxins.

Calantha is the first registration of a foliar-applied product with an RNA ingredient under Section Three of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The Insecticide Resistance Action Committee, a global public-private technical advisory group focused on resistance management, created a new category, Group 35, for ledprona, the active ingredient in Calantha, in its Mode of Action classification. Calantha is also under review by regulators in other markets around the world.