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Modified Bentgrass Trial Ruling02-21-07 | News

Modified Bentgrass Trial Ruling




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The bentgrass in the trials was modified to be resistant to glyphosate herbicides such as Roundup, which would allow turf managers to kill weeds and annual bluegrass without affecting the GM bentgrass.


Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. has issued a ruling in the lawsuit over the field trial of genetically modified bentgrass near Madras, Ore. The bentgrass in the trials was modified to be resistant to glyphosate herbicides such as Roundup, which would allow turf managers to kill weeds and annual bluegrass without affecting the GM bentgrass.

The federal government broke environmental laws in allowing a genetically modified grass seed to be planted near Madras without weighing potential harm, the judge ruled.

The grass-seed crop has been in storage since, while Scotts and Monsanto wait for federal approvals that would allow the seed to be marketed.

In the meantime, two separate studies have shown that pollen from the GM grass traveled as far as 13 miles, escaping a buffer area and allowing the modified grass to cross with conventional relatives. Those studies heightened fears that the modified grass will proliferate in the wild.

Judge Kennedy ordered the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to review the application again, and to conduct more detailed reviews of applications to establish field trials of genetically modified plants in the future. The implications of the ruling, made public Tuesday, reach far beyond Oregon’s borders. The Washington, D.C., judge ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture not to process any new field trials of biotech crops without first considering environmental effects. About 1,000 such trials are conducted annually.

This week’s ruling mirrors that of a federal judge’s decision in an unrelated case last year. In that case, the judge said the agriculture department repeatedly violated environmental-protection laws in allowing companies to plant biopharming crops in Hawaii. Biopharming refers to crops that have been genetically engineered to make vaccines and medicines.

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