its not nice to fool mother nature

[Guest guest]

A nondescript grass discovered in the Oregon countryside is hardly an

alien invasion. Yet the plant - a genetically modified form of a grass

commonly grown on golf courses - is worrying the US Department of

Agriculture (USDA) enough that it is running its first full

environmental impact assessment of a GM plant.

 

It is the first time a GM plant has escaped into the wild in the US,

and it has managed it before securing USDA approval. The plant,

creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera, carries a bacterial gene that

makes it immune to the potent herbicide glyphosate, better known as

Roundup. The manufacturer, The Scotts Company, Marysville, Ohio, is

hoping the grass will provide a turf that makes it easier for golf

course owners to manage their fairways and greens by letting them kill

competing weedy grasses with glyphosate.

 

" It could prove extremely popular with the thousands of golf course

managers in the US, making it easy for it to spread " Jay Reichman and

colleagues at the US Environmental Protection Agency's labs in

Corvallis, Oregon, identified nine escapees out of 20,400 plants of

various grass varieties sampled within a 4.8-kilometre radius of the

site where the bentgrass is being cultivated, the most distant 3.8

kilometres away. The team showed that the GM grass has spread both by

pollinating non-GM plants to form hybrids, and by seed movement.

 

Bentgrass is a perennial, so once out there it regrows year after year,

whereas most GM crops - mainly soybeans, maize and canola (oilseed

rape) - are annuals, unable to reproduce, harvested each year and

replaced with an entirely new crop the next. Another worry is that

unlike the other GM crops, bentgrass has many relatives in the US with

which it can cross-breed or hybridise, potentially passing on the

glyphosate-resistance gene to other species - with unpredictable

results.

 

" It's a cautionary tale of what could happen with other GM plants that

could be of greater concern, " says Reichman. " I suspect that more

examples of this will show up. " His report will appear in the October

issue of Molecular Ecology.

 

If bentgrass is approved by the USDA, it could prove a hit with the

thousands of golf course managers throughout the US, making it easy for

the crop to spread far and wide. If it reaches environmentally

sensitive wildernesses or establishes itself by waterways, removing it

could require weedkillers far more harmful than the relatively benign

glyphosate.

 

" It's definitely a new set of variables we've not had to deal with

in

previous GM crops, " says Eric Baack of Indiana University in

Bloomington, who comments on Reichman's findings in Current Biology

(vol 16, p R1). Still, it isn't clear whether the gene would have much

impact in the wild. " You wouldn't expect the weedkiller-resistance gene

to be a particular advantage in the wild, " says Baack. Also, the USDA

doesn't class conventional bentgrass as a " noxious " weed.

 

There is however the possibility of litigation if the GM grass

contaminates other elite grass strains under cultivation. Some 70 per

cent of the US's commercial grass seed is grown in Oregon, so there is

the potential for accidental adulteration.

 

The USDA is not taking any chances. " This is a perennial, and has wild

and weedy relatives, and it's something we think we need to know the

environmental impact of before it's deregulated, " says a spokeswoman

for the USDA's Biotechnology Regulatory Services in Riverdale,

Maryland. " There's no current set date for when [the environmental

impact assessment] will be finished, " she says.

 

Whether the US public takes any notice of the furore is another

question entirely. " I don't think people will worry about lawns and

golf courses if they've not shown any worries already about GM food, "

says Baack.

 

>From issue 2564 of New Scientist magazine, 09 August 2006, page 9

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125643.100?DCMP=NLC-nletter & nsref=mg1912\

5643.100

[Guest guest]

ughg!

 

golf is so big here. There are suburban housing development

that come with their own golf club.

 

no trees, no animals can feed on the perfect grass.

and whatever stuff they put on the grass to keep it so perfect

runs off into the streams.

 

I don't like golf.

If I'm going play a sport...

I should like to move my muscles!!

 

and I could care less about the status part of it.

 

I hope I dont' offend anyone with my Golf opinion.

 

 

 

, fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

>

> A nondescript grass discovered in the Oregon countryside is hardly an

> alien invasion. Yet the plant - a genetically modified form of a grass

> commonly grown on golf courses - is worrying the US Department of

> Agriculture (USDA) enough that it is running its first full

> environmental impact assessment of a GM plant.

>

> It is the first time a GM plant has escaped into the wild in the US,

> and it has managed it before securing USDA approval. The plant,

> creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera, carries a bacterial gene that

> makes it immune to the potent herbicide glyphosate, better known as

> Roundup. The manufacturer, The Scotts Company, Marysville, Ohio, is

> hoping the grass will provide a turf that makes it easier for golf

> course owners to manage their fairways and greens by letting them kill

> competing weedy grasses with glyphosate.

>

> " It could prove extremely popular with the thousands of golf course

> managers in the US, making it easy for it to spread " Jay Reichman and

> colleagues at the US Environmental Protection Agency's labs in

> Corvallis, Oregon, identified nine escapees out of 20,400 plants of

> various grass varieties sampled within a 4.8-kilometre radius of the

> site where the bentgrass is being cultivated, the most distant 3.8

> kilometres away. The team showed that the GM grass has spread both

bref=mg19125643.100

>

[Guest guest]

A good walk spoilt. The Valley Vegan...........Anouk Sickler <zurumato wrote: ughg!golf is so big here. There are suburban housing developmentthat come with their own golf club.no trees, no animals can feed on the perfect grass. and whatever stuff they put on the grass to keep it so perfectruns off into the streams.I don't like golf. If I'm going play a sport...I should like to move my muscles!!and I could care less about the status part of it. I hope I dont' offend anyone with my Golf opinion. , fraggle wrote:>> A nondescript grass discovered in the Oregon countryside is hardly an> alien invasion. Yet the plant - a genetically modified form of a

grass> commonly grown on golf courses - is worrying the US Department of> Agriculture (USDA) enough that it is running its first full> environmental impact assessment of a GM plant.> > It is the first time a GM plant has escaped into the wild in the US,> and it has managed it before securing USDA approval. The plant,> creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera, carries a bacterial gene that> makes it immune to the potent herbicide glyphosate, better known as> Roundup. The manufacturer, The Scotts Company, Marysville, Ohio, is> hoping the grass will provide a turf that makes it easier for golf> course owners to manage their fairways and greens by letting them kill> competing weedy grasses with glyphosate.> > "It could prove extremely popular with the thousands of golf course> managers in the US, making it easy for it to spread"Jay Reichman and> colleagues at the US

Environmental Protection Agency's labs in> Corvallis, Oregon, identified nine escapees out of 20,400 plants of> various grass varieties sampled within a 4.8-kilometre radius of the> site where the bentgrass is being cultivated, the most distant 3.8> kilometres away. The team showed that the GM grass has spread bothbref=mg19125643.100>To send an email to -