Genetically Modified Grass Escaped Into the Wild. Is Your Backyard Next?

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Genetically Modified Grass Escaped Into the Wild.

Is Your Backyard Next?

 

http://www.mercola.com/2006/sep/2/the_gm_grass_growing_on_the_golf_course_could_\

spread_to_your_lawn.htm

 

A genetically modified form of a grass commonly grown on golf courses has

escaped into the wild in the United States, before securing USDA approval.

 

The plant, Agrostis stolonifera, or creeping bentgrass, carries a gene that

makes it immune to the weed-killing herbicide Roundup. In theory, this plant

would make it easier for golf course owners to manage the weeds on their

fairways and greens without killing off the grass.

 

Most GM crops are annual, unable to reproduce and harvested each year, but

bentgrass is a perennial, which will regrow year after year. Bentgrass also has

many relatives in the United States with which it can cross-breed or

hybridize, with unknown results.

 

So far, EPA labs in Corvallis, Oregon have identified nine samples of GM

creeping bentgrass, out of more than 20,000 varieties of grass, within a

2.3-mile

radius of the facility where the bentgrass is being cultivated. The GM grass

has spread both by pollinating non-GM plants to form hybrids, and by seed

movement.

 

 

New York Times August 16, 2006

 

Check Biotech.org August 16, 2006

 

New Scientist August 9, 2006

 

 

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Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

The USDA is taking this seriously, so one could argue that they could finally

be getting the message about the blight of genetically modified crops. This

grass, genetically modified to resist Monsanto's popular herbicide Roundup, has

the agency worried enough to conduct its first environmental assessment on a

GM plant.

 

As the article notes, the major concern for all of us is that bentgrass

mixing with many non-GM plants can create hybrids that could make them immune to

herbicides or do something else completely unpredictable. And, by the way, 70

percent of America's commercial grass seed is grown in Oregon, where the grass

has escaped, so a wide variety of strains could become contaminated.

 

To add insult to injury, a week later the Washington Post reported that the

U.S. rice supply became contaminated

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081801043.\

html with a genetically engineered

variety not approved for human consumption. There is simply no practical way to

control the spread of these plants once they are out in the open.

 

I expressed this concern many years ago and now we are beginning to see

real-world evidence of this problem that will only continue to worsen.

 

The only good that could come from this disaster: It could wake up people to

the real harm GM can do.

http://www.mercola.com/2006/mar/14/are_americans_getting_any_wiser_about_gm_food\

s.htm

 

Contrary to the claims of proponents, GM crops have not been proven safe

http://www.mercola.com/2003/jul/2/gm_crops.htm .

The regulatory framework governing them was fatally flawed from the start; it

was designed to expedite product approval at the expense of safety

considerations.

 

It used a principal called 'substantial equivalence,' which is intentionally

vague and ill-defined, giving companies complete license to claim that

transgenic products are 'substantially equivalent' to non-transgenic products,

and

hence 'safe.'

 

In reality, there have been very few credible studies on the safety of GM

plants. And what findings there are already give cause for concern. In one of

the

few systematic investigations on GM food ever carried out, 'growth

factor-like' effects were found in the stomach and small intestine of young rats

that

ate GM plants. And there have been other studies that also raised serious safety

concerns.

http://www.mercola.com/2005/dec/8/the_damage_gm_foods_can_do_to_your_body.htm

 

You can help stop this craziness by sharing this information with your

friends and relatives. More than half of the public is absolutely unaware that

GM

foods are rampant in grocery stores. Seventy-five percent of processed foods

contain GM ingredients, which is one of many good reasons to avoid them and buy

organic instead.

 

 

Buying organic is currently the best way to ensure that your food has not

been genetically modified. By definition, food that is certified organic must be

free from all GM organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and

fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics,

growth

promoters or other drugs.

 

Related Articles:

 

The False Promise of GM Crops Never Realized

 

http://www.mercola.com/2006/mar/2/the_false_promise_of_gm_crops_never_realized.h\

tm

 

The Damage GM Foods Can Do To Your Body

http://www.mercola.com/2005/dec/8/the_damage_gm_foods_can_do_to_your_body.htm

 

Prominent Scientists Form Group to Counter GM Foods

http://www.mercola.com/2003/may/21/gm_food.htm