Contents
-
Scotts Company fined $500,000 for
negligence on engineered bentgrass -
Pennsylvania may ban milk labels
important to consumers -
Agricultural pollution linked to
frog deformities -
Food and Farm Bill moving in
Senate -
Locavore is 2007 word of the
year
1. Scotts Company fined
$500,000 for negligence on engineered bentgrass
The U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) hit the Scotts Company with the maximum penalty
of $500,000 for allowing an experimental turf grass to become established in the
wild. Scotts’ negligence allowed the creeping bentgrass, which was genetically
engineered to tolerate the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup), to escape from field
trials in Oregon and interbreed with wild relatives. This is the company’s
second offense: Scotts was also fined in 2004 for not notifying the USDA on two
occasions that winds had blown seeds out of its test plots. The company agreed
at that time to take additional steps to control the escaped bentgrass. The
transfer and persistence of herbicide-resistant genes in weedy species—and the
potential costs to farmers, other landowners, and the environment—is one of
UCS’s major concerns about growing these crops. See our pages on risks of genetic engineering
and bentgrass, or read the USDA’s press
release.
2. Pennsylvania may ban milk
labels important to consumers
The Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture announced earlier this fall that it would ban labels on milk that
state the milk is free of antibiotics, pesticides, or synthetic hormones. Read more…
3. Agricultural pollution
linked to frog deformities
New experimental evidence from a
multi-university study indicates that frogs and other amphibian populations may
be at risk from the large amounts of nutrient pollution generated by industrial
agriculture. The authors of the study show that increased nutrients in bodies of
water leads to excessive algal growth, which supports larger populations of
certain snails. The snails carry parasites that cause severe limb deformities
and death in frogs—and more snails mean more of the parasites. With the
increasing industrialization of agriculture, ever more massive amounts of
nutrients flow into waterways around the world each year, both from fields
treated with synthetic fertilizers and manure from CAFOs (confined animal
feeding operations). This new research suggests that the trend may intensify the
pressure on amphibians, which are key species in many ecosystems. Read the abstract in
Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
4. Food and Farm Bill moving in Senate
The
federal Food and Farm Bill, which will decide how our nation’s food is produced
for the next five years, is finally moving forward in the Senate. Read
more…
5.
Locavore is 2007 word of the year
The New Oxford
American Dictionary chose
locavore, a person who seeks out locally
produced food, as its word of the year. The local foods movement is gaining
momentum as people discover that the best-tasting and most sustainable choices
are foods that are fresh, seasonal, and grown close to home. Some locavores draw
inspiration from the 100-mile diet or from
advocates of local eating like Barbara Kingsolver. Others just
follow their taste buds to farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture
programs, and community gardens. Check out Local Harvest to
find sustainably grown food near you, and make a New Year’s Resolution to be a
locavore in 2008!