First GM Plants Found in the Wild

[bunkie]

First GM Plants Found in the Wild

www.care2.com/greenliving/first-gm-plants-found-in-the-wild.html

This is the stuff of my nightmares: Genetically-modified (GM) plants escaping the confines of agriculture and invading the wild. We thought regular invasive species were bad? They seem tame compared to genetic contamination of the wild. Even more alarming: Some of the plants had a mix of modified genes, indicating that they are reproducing on their own.

Although GM plant populations in the wild have been found in Canada, this is the first time they have been found in the United Sates.

Meredith G. Schafer, from the University of Arkansas, and colleagues established transects of land over 3000 miles long including interstate, state and county roads in North Dakota from which they collected, photographed and tested 406 canola plants.

The results show that transgenic plants have clearly established populations in the wild. Of the 406 plants collected, 347 tested positive for CP4 EPSPS protein (resistant to glyphosate herbicide, aka Roundup) or PAT protein (resistant to glufosinate herbicide, aka LibertyLink). The finding shows that genetically modified canola plants can survive and thrive in the wild perhaps for decades–the study was presented today at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America.......more......

[grunt]

What is really scary about this find is that it surprises them. It is axiomatic that if you grow anything out side of laboratory conditions, it escapes and establishes, unless conditions are really extreme against it. The way I see it, if there is a GMO that has been released commercially, it is in the wild in less than a two generations, and most of those that have only reached the testing stage are most likely established as well, because the testing phase is not done under lab conditions either.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Aug 7, 2010 8:52:13 GMT -5 bunkie said:

We thought regular invasive species were bad?

I do not have any angst about non-native plants growing in new locations.

As far as GMO plants are concerned. I have no power to control the world out there... All I can do is take care over what I plant in my garden, how I grow it, and what I buy. I could boycott every product and company that uses GMO products... But to do so successfully, my lifestyle would end up being sustenance farmer. That wouldn't be a bad thing. I'm moving closer to that every year anyway.

Regards,
Joseph

[mjc]

I have no doubt that canola/rapeseed was in the wild long before this 'revelation'...but the interesting thing from the article is that they are finding plants with more than one GM trait...in other words the two common traits ended up crossing. Now, as to what this means...well, it means that brassicas, in general a genus with several very closely allied species, are now in danger. Canola is Brassica napus (or B. campestris...which along with B napibrassica...may not be separate species, although most times they are listed as such and not subspecies). This means the wild populations could cross with any other B napus or swedes (rutabagas). It also means that there has been mixing of the two common GM canolas....so who is Mon$anto going to sue over that?

It also proves that the lawsuits Mon$anto brought against farmers who claimed their fields were cross contaminated by a neighbor's field were baseless, and that Mon$anto knew, from about 10 yrs ago that this crossing was occurring. It isn't a surprise...except that it made it to the news media. One very troubling side effect of this, is now technically, Mon$anto 'owns' the wild, contaminated stuff. That is the REAL danger of GMOs escaping...due to the fact that the genes are patented, the plant itself is now the property of the patent owner. As to other GMOs...well, there is no wild corn or soy in the US so they are 'safe' (so is playing in traffic on a busy highway). Same with cotton. But other places where they are grown they could interact with wild, native, feral or even cropped open pollinated populations and probably do so much more commonly than makes the news.

[blueadzuki]

Aug 7, 2010 13:18:32 GMT -5 mjc said:

As to other GMOs...well, there is no wild corn or soy in the US so they are 'safe' (so is playing in traffic on a busy highway). Same with cotton. But other places where they are grown they could interact with wild, native, feral or even cropped open pollinated populations and probably do so much more commonly than makes the news.

I'd offer to test my wild soybeans (they're incidental weed seeds in the bags I get, so they're probably a good estimation of waht is going on in the fields in china) but I have so few, I really don't think I can afford to risk killing them all off with a roundup dosing.

[wildseed57]

I have got on my soap box several times about what could accidently happen and now it has! So what can we do now that its growing and changing if we can do anything at all. Monsanto will of course denigh that its their fault, I can see it all now just like the tides washing oil into our salt mashes first just a little and wham its all over and we can't gget it all cleaned up. I hope that the people who are rational will take control and get this mess under control before it spreds else where.
George W.

[paquebot]

Since canola is not a wild plant , it can't cross with any wild canola. Those which were recently found and reported to be wild are simply feral plants from seed spilled by passing trucks. If the full report is read, the scientists involved also say that it's unlikely that a large feral canola population can result. But for anyone with a lot of worries about it, a tinfoil hat may help to alleviate any concern!

Martin

[mjc]

The species Brassica napus and depending on how you go...whether campestris is another species or just a subspecies, do have wild forms. So that part of the report is more than a bit understated, in my opinion.

The scary fact, though, is the more than one GE trait being found in a single plant. Not from some 'Frankenstein' type plant scariness, but, rather, a legal 'scariness'. Because, even though it proves, beyond reasonable doubt, that cross pollination DOES occur, it isn't going to stop or invalidate any lawsuit. It's about using a patent as blunt weapon, even though this proves the patent to be unenforceable, to bludgeon those who don't use the patented product into paying royalties on it anyway. No, not tinfoil territory there...simple fact of several hundred lawsuits/threats of lawsuits/settlements. That's what is scary about it.

[rockguy]

Hmmm...If the GM plants that are growing wild can be proven to be the property of the big M, (should be easy)then can't a sharp lawyer file suit so the state or private property owner where the plants are found now "own" them thru abandoned property or condemnation laws? If the ownership cannot be transferred this way, then M still owns them and somebody is due storage fees, penalties for reduced soil fertility(your plants are using my nutrients without my permission) and fines for littering etc.

[paquebot]

With the title of the article being wrong, anything which follows would also have to be suspect. GM canola has been growing wild along Canadian and American roads for about as long as GM canola has been available for field planting. Percy Schmeiser used that as his defense 10 years ago. Nobody in the scientific world seems concerned about it and until they do, neither will I.

Martin

[mjc]

Aug 9, 2010 13:41:06 GMT -5 paquebot said:

Nobody in the scientific world seems concerned about it and until they do, neither will I.

Martin

That's why the bigger problem is the IP (intellectual property) side of things...of course Mon$anto's answer is going to be, so...we've got 'Terminator Tech'...we need to implement it to solve the 'problem'.

[blueadzuki]

Aug 9, 2010 14:33:55 GMT -5 mjc said:

Aug 9, 2010 13:41:06 GMT -5 paquebot said:

Nobody in the scientific world seems concerned about it and until they do, neither will I.

Martin

That's why the bigger problem is the IP (intellectual property) side of things...of course Mon$anto's answer is going to be, so...we've got 'Terminator Tech'...we need to implement it to solve the 'problem'.

And that's the bit that worries me, that the "terminator gene" itself will get out into the community. Since (as afar as I understand. the "terminator factor" doesn't come into play until the seeds are more or less mature, the plants will still be producing more than enough transgenic pollen to spread. If you want to get really conspiracy minded I can even imagine them in this case trying to do so on purpose; that is, deliberately spreading terminator pollen around with the aim of rendering all open pollinated seed extinct. Or more likey they do this with the so called "zombie seed" tech then drive the price of the "Re-Animator" serum (Sorry but whenever i hear about this tech, I keep imagining Herbert West and his glowing green syringe) trough the roof safe in a market they have made a complely inelastic monopoly for themselves.

[mjc]

Everything I've seen on the terminator tech is that it needs to be chemically activated in order to work...or the seed produced will be viable, but still carry the gene. So the scenario I imagine is that they will up the number of lawsuits until nobody is willing to NOT buy the licensed seed.

Also, digging around I found that it isn't really the added genes they are looking for as to whether or not to bring a suit...they are looking for specific genetic markers, that are included in the GM process to make it easy to see if the genes 'took'...so technically, it is possible that the markers could be transferred (they are just some other genetic material, anyway) without the actual patented genes being transferred (yeah, slim chance...but still possible).

The jurisdictions that the lawsuits are heard in is very carefully planned...because the initial cases were before judges that were known for predominantly handling IP law cases. If the judges were 'country folk' that understood what cross pollination really means, these cases would have been thrown out and the patents declared invalid and unenforceable. It's the same thing as if your prize bull gets out and goes around impregnating all the neighbor's cows and then you suing them because of the loss of income to you by them having 'improved' calves. Most country judges would throw you out of the courtroom...if not in jail for contempt, for being so damn stupid to sue.

And since the vast bulk of open pollinated seed is or will be public domain property, there are even bigger legal/IP problems if they are actively trying to make it 'extinct'. There's only about 8 yrs or so before the earliest patented GM crops go public domain, anyway (and really many of them are OP...). The patents involved are for 20 yrs and aren't renewable. And it is easier to use an OP variety and insert a gene than trying to find inbred lines, inserting it into one of them and hoping that the F1 is always going to carry the gene (or do that and dehybridize the cross until it is stabilized). Remember...in 'seed talk'...standard variety means 'a stable, open pollinated' one...just like for a very long time a 'standard' transmission was a manual one (stick shift). Mon$anto lost the patent on RoundUp a couple of years ago and they are already feeling the bite of that...just think of what happens when the patents on the RR crops start to expire...