|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
Genetically Engineered Lawns! |
Current rating: 0 |
by The Calgary Herald, via Sehvilla
Email: smann (nospam) stu.parkland.cc.il.us (unverified!) |
15 May 2002
|
|
Monsanto,The Scotts Company and others have developed varieties of lawn-grass that are genetically modified for "desirable" traits such as slow growth and herbicide tolerance. The grass would be used on golf courses and possibly by private home owners. |
This story was forwarded from the Organic Consumer Association's webpage (www.organicconsumers.org).
-------------------------------------------------
Genetically Engineered Grass Stirs Debate
Calgary Herald (Canada)
May 11, 2002
Slow-grow GRASS: A biotech nightmare or a gardener's and golfer's dream?
BY: Julie Deardorff
Despite the controversial nature of biotech crops, the cutting-edge science
is moving from farm fields into suburban lawns and golf courses as
researchers push to get genetically engineered grass to the market.
One strain of gene-altered grass, developed by seed companies and nicknamed
"low-mow," inches up more slowly than regular grass, so it requires less
cutting and watering. Other grasses would be immune to a popular
agricultural glyphosate herbicide, making weed-killing a breeze.
Bio-engineered flowers that promise longer blooms are also in the pipeline.
Some see the products as the greatest thing since the weed whacker, the
answer to the suburban homeowner's dream of a perfect yard. Golf courses,
which use weed-prone creeping bentgrass for carpet-smooth putting greens,
are especially eager to have a grass that requires less intensive, less
expensive maintenance.
Everybody, it seems, struggles with their lawn. "Does it grow in the shade?"
Chicago's Kent Hardy asked hopefully, while pushing a cart filled with three
bags of topsoil and a bag of grass seed mixture for shady lawns through a
home improvement centre.
Critics, however, say the products need more testing, have no redeeming
societal value and fear pollen from the grass could contaminate plants and
create herbicide-resistant super weeds. The American Society of Landscape
Architects petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to suspend field
tests until independent studies have been done.
"The new frontier of genetically engineered crops are coming to your front
lawn. It's bizarre and very concerning," said Matt Rand, director for
biotechnology for the National Environmental Trust. "It's another product
that makes no sense."
Though the "low mow" slow-growing grasses are still several years away from
commercial availability, genetically modified creeping bentgrass could pop
up on the market by 2004 or 2005, according to officials at Ohio-based
Scotts Co., where scientists have been working with turf grass breeding
programs at several universities.
This spring, Scotts plans to ask for permission to sell the first batches of
creeping bentgrass, which can tolerate being sprayed with the herbicide
Roundup, according to Scotts spokesman Jim King.
Roundup, a potent herbicide produced by Monsanto, effectively kills many
types of vegetation, including crops. But if the crops have been genetically
altered, they can withstand being sprayed by Roundup and are called "Roundup
Ready," meaning a farmer can blanket his field with the herbicide --
everything dies except the crop.
Introduced in the mid-1990s, the products have become enormously popular.
About 74 per cent of this year's soy crop and about 32 per cent of the corn
crop will be of biotech varieties, according to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's spring survey. Biotech varieties of crops are also popular
across Canada.
The move by Scotts is likely to revive the ongoing biotechnology debate,
which has been largely focused on agricultural crops and concerned
consumers, especially in Europe. But the controversy has also hit turf
grasses. Two years ago, protesters caused more than $300,000 in damage to an
Oregon research centre that was testing altered grass for golf courses.
Vandals also struck research labs in Michigan and Minnesota.
Despite the resistance, genetic modification is here. Proponents say biotech
crops can increase agricultural productivity while reducing farmers'
reliance on pesticides. Biotech corn, for example, carries a bacterial gene
that makes a protein that is lethal to caterpillars. Biotech cotton kills
several important pests.
"As the population increases and the agricultural land declines, we have to
have methods of producing foods more efficiently," said Peter Day, founding
director of the Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment at
Rutgers University. "This technology is it. It's not a trivial activity."
Opponents to the technology argue that transgenic plants can have an effect
on neighbouring plants and on pests that weren't targeted. Genetically
modified organisms have been shown to transfer genes in the environment,
contaminating neighbouring crops and potentially creating uncontrollable
weeds. Widespread planting of pest-resistant crops will accelerate
resistance in pest populations, say environmentalists.
ASLA past president Len Hopper said the group has some concerns with the
technology moving forward without an independent review. Tests conducted in
2000 by Pure Seed Testing Inc., an Oregon grass seed company, showed that
pollen from the genetically altered grass could travel as far as 1,000
metres and fertilize other grasses.
"Once it's in the field, it can be spread and you can get a buildup of
herbicide-tolerant weeds," said Hopper, the head of the landscape
architecture division for the New York City Housing Authority. "Plus there's
the potential liability of contaminating traditional varieties. As
significant as the economic benefit may be, you aren't talking about feeding
millions of starving people (with the technology). If we had to pause for a
period of time to get an independent review, it's not a life-or-death
situation."
To develop the grasses, scientists working mainly in greenhouses at Scotts'
headquarters in Marysville, Ohio, use a gene gun to shoot plant DNA into a
tissue of grass. In the process, a tiny proportion of DNA is integrated into
the nucleus of the cell. The company won't divulge what plants it is using
as a source of genetic material to slow the growth of grass, because it
hopes to patent the technology, said a spokesman.
"In low-management areas, (slow-grow) grass has a lot of opportunities,
especially in public parks and interstate roadsides, because it could save
money, wear on the environment and equipment," said Andrew Hamblin, a
professor of turf and grass breeding and genetics at the University of
Illinois. In addition, slow-growing grass could help cut down on lawn mower
pollution.
Roundup Ready creeping bentgrass would be ideal for golf courses, where the
grass is often smoother than a living room carpet, mowed to a height of 2 or
3 millimetres and difficult to manage.
Regular golf course grass doesn't hold up well to herbicides, but Roundup
Ready grass would "be less susceptible to disease and probably take less
water to irrigate the course," said Monsanto spokesman Mark Buckingham. In
addition, it would reduce maintenance costs because groundskeepers could
spray everything at once instead of spot spraying.
While the grass would be welcomed by golf course owners, farmers who use
Roundup Ready crops wouldn't want the creeping bent grass released in their
corn or soybeans, said Roger Beachy, director of the Danforth Plant Science
Center in St. Louis.
"It will be interesting to see the regulatory limits placed on the
distribution or the cautions," he said.
|
