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Engineered grass found growing in wild
By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago
PORTLAND, Ore. - Grass that was genetically engineered for golf courses
is growing in the wild, posing one of the first threats of agricultural
biotechnology escaping from the farm in the United States, a new study
says.
ADVERTISEMENT
Creeping bentgrass was engineered to resist the popular herbicide
Roundup to allow more efficient weed control on golf courses. But the
modified grass could spread that resistance to the wild, becoming a
nuisance itself, scientists say.
"This is not a killer tomato, this is not the asparagus that ate
Cleveland," said Norman Ellstrand, a geneticist and plant expert at the
University of California, Riverside, referring to science fiction
satire
about mutant plants.
But Ellstrand noted the engineered bentgrass has the potential to
affect
more than a dozen other plant species that could also acquire
resistance
to Roundup, or glyphosate, which he considers a relatively benign
herbicide.
Such resistance could force land managers and government agencies like
the U.S. Forest Service, which relies heavily on Roundup, to switch to
"nastier" herbicides to control grasses and weeds, Ellstrand said.
The bentgrass variety is being developed by Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. in
cooperation with Roundup's manufacturer, Monsanto Co.
Spokesmen for both companies said they had been expecting the results
of
the study, to be published in the journal Molecular Ecology.
"We've been working to mitigate it," said Jim King, spokesman for
Ohio-based Scotts. "Now we're down to maybe a couple dozen plants."
King said seed from a test plot escaped several years ago while it was
drying following harvest in the Willamette Valley, home to most of the
U.S. grass seed industry and the world's largest producer of commercial
grass varieties.
The main question now, King says, is whether the government will allow
commercial use of the experimental bentgrass for golf courses.
"Eradicating it has not been a difficult issue," King said. "The only
difference between the turf seed we're working to produce and naturally
occurring varieties is that it has a gene resistant to this specific
herbicide (Roundup)."
The engineered bentgrass is under review by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, which published a "white paper" in June that assessed the
threat but did not reach any conclusions - leaving that for an
environmental impact statement being prepared by the department's
Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service.
But the USDA review paper noted that glyphosate is "the most
extensively
used herbicide worldwide," and that creeping bentgrass and several of
the species that can form hybrids with it "can be weedy or invasive in
some situations."
In 2003, the International Center for Technology Assessment in
Washington, D.C., filed a federal lawsuit seeking to halt development
of
genetically engineered bentgrass. The suit is still pending, a USDA
spokeswoman said.
The latest study was done by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
scientists based at Oregon State University.
Jay Reichman, an EPA ecologist and lead author, was not available
Wednesday. But he has said there is a possibility the engineered strain
could persist in the wild.
"There could be consequences," said Steven Strauss, who heads the
biotechnology issues analysis program at Oregon State.
"But they're not catastrophic because there are Roundup resistant
species out there - I have them in my back yard right now," Strauss
added.
He noted that scientists have been dealing with genetically engineered
corn and soybeans for years, but those crops do not pose the airborne
seed problems faced by commercial grass seed growers.
Ultimately, Strauss said, development of the engineered grass may be an
economic question rather than a biological issue - whether it could
affect the cost of agriculture and weed control.
"And that's very difficult because this is in a gray zone," Strauss
said.
___
On the Net:
U.S. Department of Agriculture review paper:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/about_aphis/creeping_bentgrass.shtml
Oregon State University: http://www.orst.edu
Monsanto Co.: http://www.monsanto.com
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.: http://www.scotts.com
By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago
PORTLAND, Ore. - Grass that was genetically engineered for golf courses
is growing in the wild, posing one of the first threats of agricultural
biotechnology escaping from the farm in the United States, a new study
says.
ADVERTISEMENT
Creeping bentgrass was engineered to resist the popular herbicide
Roundup to allow more efficient weed control on golf courses. But the
modified grass could spread that resistance to the wild, becoming a
nuisance itself, scientists say.
"This is not a killer tomato, this is not the asparagus that ate
Cleveland," said Norman Ellstrand, a geneticist and plant expert at the
University of California, Riverside, referring to science fiction
satire
about mutant plants.
But Ellstrand noted the engineered bentgrass has the potential to
affect
more than a dozen other plant species that could also acquire
resistance
to Roundup, or glyphosate, which he considers a relatively benign
herbicide.
Such resistance could force land managers and government agencies like
the U.S. Forest Service, which relies heavily on Roundup, to switch to
"nastier" herbicides to control grasses and weeds, Ellstrand said.
The bentgrass variety is being developed by Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. in
cooperation with Roundup's manufacturer, Monsanto Co.
Spokesmen for both companies said they had been expecting the results
of
the study, to be published in the journal Molecular Ecology.
"We've been working to mitigate it," said Jim King, spokesman for
Ohio-based Scotts. "Now we're down to maybe a couple dozen plants."
King said seed from a test plot escaped several years ago while it was
drying following harvest in the Willamette Valley, home to most of the
U.S. grass seed industry and the world's largest producer of commercial
grass varieties.
The main question now, King says, is whether the government will allow
commercial use of the experimental bentgrass for golf courses.
"Eradicating it has not been a difficult issue," King said. "The only
difference between the turf seed we're working to produce and naturally
occurring varieties is that it has a gene resistant to this specific
herbicide (Roundup)."
The engineered bentgrass is under review by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, which published a "white paper" in June that assessed the
threat but did not reach any conclusions - leaving that for an
environmental impact statement being prepared by the department's
Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service.
But the USDA review paper noted that glyphosate is "the most
extensively
used herbicide worldwide," and that creeping bentgrass and several of
the species that can form hybrids with it "can be weedy or invasive in
some situations."
In 2003, the International Center for Technology Assessment in
Washington, D.C., filed a federal lawsuit seeking to halt development
of
genetically engineered bentgrass. The suit is still pending, a USDA
spokeswoman said.
The latest study was done by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
scientists based at Oregon State University.
Jay Reichman, an EPA ecologist and lead author, was not available
Wednesday. But he has said there is a possibility the engineered strain
could persist in the wild.
"There could be consequences," said Steven Strauss, who heads the
biotechnology issues analysis program at Oregon State.
"But they're not catastrophic because there are Roundup resistant
species out there - I have them in my back yard right now," Strauss
added.
He noted that scientists have been dealing with genetically engineered
corn and soybeans for years, but those crops do not pose the airborne
seed problems faced by commercial grass seed growers.
Ultimately, Strauss said, development of the engineered grass may be an
economic question rather than a biological issue - whether it could
affect the cost of agriculture and weed control.
"And that's very difficult because this is in a gray zone," Strauss
said.
___
On the Net:
U.S. Department of Agriculture review paper:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/about_aphis/creeping_bentgrass.shtml
Oregon State University: http://www.orst.edu
Monsanto Co.: http://www.monsanto.com
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.: http://www.scotts.com