{"id":44153,"date":"2014-07-07T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=44153"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:33:43","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:33:43","slug":"protecting-organic-seeds-from-gmo-contamination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/07\/protecting-organic-seeds-from-gmo-contamination\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Organic Seeds from GMO Contamination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Organic seed should be free of genetically engineered (GE) DNA, because organic regulations prohibit genetic engineering. \u00a0Unfortunately, organic crops are threatened by inadvertent contamination from GE crops.\u00a0 In response to the threat, the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) published a workbook, Protecting Organic Seed Integrity: The Organic Farmer\u2019s Handbook to GE Avoidance and Testing<\/em>. [1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Although the workbook itself is geared primarily to seed growers, the integrity of our seed supply is important to all of us. \u00a0Contamination of seed planted by organic farmers will result in GE DNA in organic food and feed.\u00a0 This is an economic loss for the farmer, because buyers may refuse to purchase contaminated seed.\u00a0 Wide-scale contamination of our seed supply can destroy the genetic purity of seed varieties used by organic farmers.\u00a0 The workbook claims \u201cOSGATA\u2019s membership believes that contamination of organic seed by GE seed constitutes irreparable harm to the organic seed industry by undermining the integrity of organic seed.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

How do crops become contaminated?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are many ways that GE DNA can find its way into other crops.\u00a0 During the growing season, pollen from a GE crop can travel long distances and pollinate organic crops.\u00a0 To help prevent this, some seed companies require seed crops to be at least 2 miles from any corn plantings, to ensure purity of the seed.\u00a0 Gene flow can occur as seeds are dispersed to new areas by wind, water, and animals.\u00a0 Another important source of GE contamination is through seed mixing.\u00a0 This can occur in the equipment used during planting and harvest, or during transport and storage of the harvested crop.<\/p>\n

Why is contamination a threat?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The spread of GE DNA can happen quickly.\u00a0 Within a year of the release of GE alfalfa, contamination was found in the non-GE plantings of alfalfa.<\/p>\n

Possible sources of GE contamination can be difficult to identify.\u00a0 For example, test plots of unapproved GE crops can be a source of unknown and unsuspected GE DNA. \u00a0Before crops are deregulated and commercialized, they are field tested at undisclosed locations.\u00a0 More than 8,000 field trials have been planted, throughout the U.S., often near seed producing areas.\u00a0 Farmers may have no idea that a new experimental crop is being tested near their farm.<\/p>\n

If genetic contamination from test plots does occur, it may be impossible to detect.\u00a0 Testing for GE crops is based on detecting the novel DNA that has been inserted, or the proteins made from that DNA.\u00a0 Testing laboratories can use DNA sequences of the approved, deregulated crops, but they do not have access to the DNA sequences of unapproved varieties being grown in field tests.\u00a0\u00a0 Since laboratories can only test for known DNA sequences, they may be unable to detect contamination that occurs from crops in test plots. \u00a0Since the location of the test plots is secret, farmers may not even be aware of the need to test.\u00a0 Contamination can become widespread before it is detected.<\/p>\n

All crops are at risk of contamination, but seed crops are particularly at risk, because the GE DNA in the seed will carry over to the food crop as well. After GE crops are commercialized, they may be grown anywhere, even near seed crops, and farmers who grow them are not required to notify their neighbors.<\/p>\n

How can risk be mitigated?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Growers of organic seed crops are taking a pro-active stance to prevent contamination.\u00a0 They are educating themselves about prevention methods, implementing management practices, and testing their own seed crops.\u00a0 The National Organic Standards Board has discussed seed purity, and plans to continue working on it.<\/p>\n

Consumers can support these efforts by purchasing organic food and garden seeds.\u00a0 This is particularly important for corn, canola (and canola oil), soybeans, beets (and beet sugar), and squash.<\/p>\n

Farmers and consumers depend on the integrity of organic seed stocks.\u00a0 Without action, organic seed stocks could be permanently contaminated with GE DNA.<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]Download available at http:\/\/www.osgata.org\/organic-seed-integrity\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 cornucopia.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growers of organic seed crops are taking a pro-active stance to prevent contamination. They are educating themselves about prevention methods, implementing management practices, and testing their own seed crops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organic-gmo-genetic-engineering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}