US Opens Canada to GM Grass Contamination
Press Release: July 13, 2011, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network US Department of Agriculture will not regulate genetically modified bluegrass, decision could be applied to future GM crops Ottawa. Canadian environmental groups today expressed new concerns about a serious threat of contamination from genetically modified (GM) plants across the U.S. border after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) decided last week not to regulate a GM herbicide-tolerant grass, potentially opening the door to similar decisions on future GM crops. U.S. company Scotts Miracle Gro is now free to sell its herbicide-tolerant “Roundup Ready” Kentucky bluegrass in the U.S., without regulatory oversight. In an exchange of letters with Scotts, the USDA declared that it lacked authority over the new GM bluegrass because Scotts did not use a certain “plant pest” in the process of genetically engineering. Superweed rendering by Paul Hoppe “GM grass is a nightmare scenario for contamina