Weeds on the warpath
COLIN HASKIN
The Globe and Mail; Sources: Wire services
Wednesday, April 26, 2000
In the first officially confirmed case of its kind, weeds in Canada have
become resistant to three kinds of herbicide, reports New Scientist
magazine. The plants picked up genes from three different, genetically
modified varieties of the rapeseed crop canola. In 1997, a farmer in
Alberta planted separate fields, each 30 metres apart, with canola that
resisted either Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, Cyanamid's Pursuit or
Aventis's Liberty. In 1998, he found weeds that resisted two herbicides
and, last year, weeds that resisted all three. Only more toxic
herbicides,
such as 2,4-d, will control them. Companies that market
herbicide-resistant
crops have claimed their products would make such toxic chemicals
unnecessary.
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