Do I remember correctly a case in Canada a few years ago where a farmer lost a fight with Monsanto or someone like them when they charged him for having their crops in his field, when one or more of the neighboring farmers were using them?
Wikipedia sez I do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_Canada_Inc._v._Schmeiser On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 10:55 AM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > [by the way, the NYT still hasn't mentioned the humiliation of former > Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala at the hands of the Israeli > authorities. Down the memory hole!] > > The New York Times / August 9, 2010 > > Canola, Pushed by Genetics, Moves Into Uncharted Territories > By ANDREW POLLACK > > Genetically engineered versions of the canola plant are flourishing in > the form of roadside weeds in North Dakota, scientists say, in one of > the first instances of a genetically modified crop establishing itself > in the wild. > > How much of a problem this might be is subject to debate. But critics > of biotech crops have long warned that it is hard to keep genes — in > this case, genes conferring resistance to common herbicides — from > spreading with unwanted consequences. > > “If there’s a problem in North Dakota, it’s that these crop plants are > becoming weeds,” said Cynthia L. Sagers, a biology professor at the > University of Arkansas, who led the study. Results were presented > Friday at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America. > > Canola, whose seeds are pressed to make the popular cooking oil, is a > type of oilseed rape developed by breeders in Canada. In the United > States, it is grown mainly in North Dakota and Minnesota, though > cultivation is spreading. > > The roadside plants apparently start growing when seeds blow from > fields or fall out of trucks carrying the crops to market. In the > plains of Canada, where canola is widely grown, roadside biotech > plants resistant to the herbicide Roundup have become a problem, said > Alexis Knispel, who has just completed a doctoral dissertation on the > subject at the University of Manitoba. > > Some farmers, she said, have had to return to plowing their fields to > control weeds — a practice that contributes to soil erosion — because > they can no longer use Roundup to control the stray canola plants. She > also said the proliferation of roadside canola would make it difficult > to keep organic canola free of genetically engineered material. > > Monsanto, the developer of Roundup Ready canola, one of the modified > plants, said the new findings were neither surprising nor worrisome. > Even before biotech crops were developed, canola grew on roadsides, it > said; now that 90 percent of the canola planted by farmers is > engineered, it would be reasonable to expect a similar percentage in > roadside samples. > > For the North Dakota study, Meredith G. Schafer, a graduate student at > Arkansas, and colleagues traversed 3,000 miles of roads, stopping > every five miles and taking a sample of one canola plant if there were > any growing. > > Of the 604 plants collected, 80 percent were genetically engineered, > Dr. Sagers said. Some were Roundup Ready, with a gene conferring > resistance to Roundup, also known as glyphosate. Others were Liberty > Link crops, with a gene conferring resistance to glufosinate. > > Two plants were found to have genes conferring resistance to both > herbicides, suggesting that the crops resistant to each herbicide had > mated. > > The biotech canola has also been found growing in Japan, which does > not even grow the crop, only imports it. > > Scientists have also reported that genetically engineered grass > established itself in the wild in Oregon. Monsanto said roadside > canola could be controlled by mowing or by other herbicides. > Resistance to an herbicide does not give a plant an advantage over > others unless that particular herbicide is sprayed. > > Dr. Sagers said that in some areas the researchers sampled, Roundup > had been sprayed, leaving only the herbicide-resistant canola > standing. > > Dale Thorenson, assistant director of the United States Canola > Association, said there were many weeds far more troublesome than > stray canola plants. > > Genetically modified corn and soybeans have not established themselves > in the wild, even though they are grown on far more acres than canola. > > “They are superdomesticated and they just don’t really like to go > wild,” said Norman Ellstrand, a professor of genetics at the > University of California, Riverside. > -- > Jim Devine > "All science would be superfluous if the form of appearance of things > directly coincided with their essence." -- KM > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >
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