GMO Effects on Organic Production

1. GMO Effects on Organic Production Presentation by: Stephanie Tessitore

2. Overview: ~ What’s a GMO? ~ How prevalent are GMOs in agriculture today? ~ What are the risks of GMOs to Organic Production? ~ Weeds ~ Pesticide ~ Bugs ~ Genetic Drift ~ What does the NOP say about these risks? What can the organic farmer to to protect him/herself?

3. Timeline of the Making of a GMO Total: 7 to 11.5 years from finding to release Credit: Prof. Karen Oberhauser (I stole this graphic from her because I don’t know where she found it)

4. Credit: Prof. Alan Smith

5. Credit: Prof. Alan Smith

6. What’s out there? ~ Currently in commerce ~ Soybean: herbicide tolerant ~ Maize: insect & herbicide tolerant ~ Cotton: insect & herbicide tolerant ~ Canola: herbicide tolerant ~ Papaya: virus resistant ~ Squash: virus resistant ~ Tobacco: low nicotine ~ Carnation: blue flowers ~ Plum: plum pox virus resistance

7. How To Make a GM plant: ~ Take 1 spliced gene (a gene fragment) ~ Introduce a vector ( Agrobacterium tumefaciens, usually) to take up the gene fragment, and as the bacteria reproduce, so do the gene fragments ~ Agrobacterium tumefaciens inserts itself into the plant genome (in dicots) OR ~ Particle gun delivers DNA into cell (in monocots) * There is a MARKER gene that allows the scientist to know which cells have been transformed and which have not. This is usually in the form of an ANTIBIOTIC Resistance (Mendelson, Webber)

8. Risks of GMOs to organic production: ~ New Weeds (really the old weeds, just the worst ones are selected) ~ More and Worse pesticide use ~ New Bugs (really the old bugs, just the worst ones selected) ~ Contamination (USC)

9. * The Marker gene is usually an antibiotic resistance gene • ~ This could be taken up by bacteria and creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria. • *(E.g. Ampicillin resistance is often used. Ampicillin is an antibiotic used to treat a variety of infections. Bacteria could take this up and become ampicillin-resistant)

10. Increased Pesticide Use ~ Increase? Herbicide-tolerant and Bt crops were supposed to decrease pesticide use… ~ Here’s the Science: Because of Ht crops, farmers can use larger amounts and/or more applications of herbicide without hurting the crop. Using lots of herbicide selects for weeds that are naturally more herbicide-tolerant ~ When weeds become tolerant, higher doses of pesticide or new, more toxic pesticide must be used (Cassman & Knezevic)

11. Here’s the Science: ~ Seeds from known resistant plants were collected from a soybean field, grown up in controlled greenhouse conditions, and treated with 0, 0.28, 0.56, 0.84, 1.1, 2.2, 4.4, 8.8, and 13.4 kg ai ha amounts of glyphosate. The findings were such that high levels of glyphosate, some from 0.84 but most in the range of 2.8 and up were required to achieve even a 50% reduction in horseweed. The plants had therefore acquired an eight to thirteen-fold resistance to glyphosate.The original field was being sprayed with 1.6 kg ai ha amounts of glyphosate.

12. What’s this mean for the organic farmer? ~ More pesticide to blow over from those conventional fields 25 feet away ~ “Superweeds” invading your organic farm (Need more be said?) ~ CONTAMINATION!

13. “Superpests” (the bug problem) ~ Natural selection: a pressure causes the allelic frequency within a population to change ~ GMO crops select for resistant pests. ~ Refuges try to ameliorate and delay this to keep the resistant pests from mating and creating more resistant pests ~ Lots of controversy over whether or not these work

14. Here’s the Logic: “Several major pests, including the tobacco budworm, Colorado potato beetle, Indianmeal moth, and diamondback moth, have demonstrated the ability to adapt to Bt in the laboratory. As Bt use increases on more acres, some scientists predict that insect resistance to Bt will be a major problem.” (Webber)

15. Who needs refuges? ~ VERY high levels of insecticidal crystal proteins (ICPs): only insects that have a very high resistance gene will be able to survive. (Webber) ~ “Such genes are expected to be extremely rare in the insect population,” (Webber) ~ Additional Insecticidal Genes: Develop transgenic plants that express several insecticidal genes targeting different sites within the insect. An insect would have to have multiple resistance genes. (Webber)

16. What’s this mean for the organic farmer? ~ Bugs you can’t kill invading your crops. ~ Loss of efficacy for organic farmer’s tools: Bt, other approved organic pesticides don’t work (or don’t work as well) against these new resistant bugs

17. Genetic Drift: ~ Transformed pollen from neighboring farms spreads via wind ~ Crop-to-wild hybridization ~ Crop-to-crop contamination ~ Annuals (Corn, soybeans, cotton and canola) are easier to control ~ Some crops can hybridize with many different weeds, producing herbicide-tolerant weeds (Ellstrand) * More superweeds! ~ Already an herbicide-tolerance gene has jumped from canola to a wild mustard in Canada (Pollack)

18. Bentgrass was a big deal (2004) ~ Perennial, can cross-pollinate with 12 other grass species ~ EPA study of genetically engineered bentgrass showed that GM bentgrass pollinated test plants as far as 13 miles away (due to lightness of grass pollen) *The previous estimate of how far transformed pollen can travel: 0.62 miles (Pollack)

19. Maybe the biggest cause for concern for the organic farmer? ~ GMO pollen contamination of your organic crop ~ Change your planting time to avoid your crop getting pollinated by your neighbor’s GMO crop ~ Lose production in order to increase your buffer zone ~ Change your crop entirely ~ You lose the ability to save your seed! ~ YOU pay to have it tested ~ You can lose your certification ~ Technically, YOU are stealing Monsanto’s patented product

20. OFRF Survey on the Impacts of GMOs on Organic Farmers, 2002-03, survey of 1,034 organic farmers ~ 17% of respondents had GMO testing conducted on their farm ~ 11% of those had contamination on their seed, inputs or farm products ~ 19% have increased buffer zone size ~ 18% discontinued use of certain at-risk inputs ~ 15% have adjusted timing of crop planting ~ 13% altered cropping patterns or crops produced ~ 9% changed crop locations

21. Q. Based on what you know today about the use of GMOs in agriculture, what do you believe is the risk of exposure and contamination of your organic farm product(s) by GMOs? ~ 30% High to Very high ~ 16% Moderate risk ~ 46% Low to very low ~ 8% don’t know

22. Biotechnology Affecting Organic Here’s the Rule: “A variety of methods used to genetically modify organisms or influence their growth and development by means that are not possible under natural conditions or processes are not considered compatible with organic production,” so sayeth the NOP

23. Here’s the exceptions: A certifying agent tests and detects the presence of biotech-derived material in the crop As long as an organic operation has not used excluded methods and takes reasonable steps to avoid contact with the products of excluded methods as detailed in their approved organic system plan, the unintentional presence of the products of excluded methods will not affect the status of the organic operation.  (NOP) This all depends on what “reasonable steps” means.

24. Do insufficient buffers or barriers that result in unintended contact with a product of genetic modification threaten the farm’s certification or use of the field for the production of organic crops?  If an organic producer is found to have not implemented measures necessary to prevent commingling of organic and non-organic products, would that threaten the certification of the producer or handler? Inadequate buffer zones should not be approved by the certifier in the first place and failure to comply with approved buffer zones constitutes a noncompliance with the approved organic system plan. (NOP) If an approved buffer zone fails to protect the crop, the certifier cannot retroactively punish the producer, but must re-evaluate the buffer and take “other preventative measures” to ensure integrity of the crop in the future. (NOP)

25. Has any certified organic operation that refrains from intentional use of biotech seeds ever lost certification for the inadvertent presence of biotech material in its crop?  “No accredited certifying agent has reported to us that certification has been lost due to adventitious presence of biotech material.  In one instance, a producer admitted to deliberately planting GM seed and representing the crop as organic, for which we took enforcement action and he is no longer certified.” (NOP) (1/14/05)

26. The Big List of References: ~ “OFRF Survey Documents Impacts of GMOs on Organic Farmers,” Scowcroft, Bob and Walz, Erica. Available: http://ofrf.org/pressroom/releases/030514_4thsurveygmos.html ~ “Glyphosate-resistant horseweed from Delaware,” VanGessel, Mark J. August 14, 2001. Published in: Weed Science, vol. 49, November-December 2001 ~ “Use of Herbicide Tolerant Crops as a Component of an Integrated Weed Management Program,” Cassman, Kenneth G. and Knezevic, Stevan Z. Crop Management Journal, 2003. Available: http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/cm/management/2003/htc/ ~ “Genes From Engineered Grass Spread for Miles, Study Finds.” Pollack, Andrew. New York Times published September 21, 2004 ~ “When Transgenes Wander, Should We Worry?” Ellstrand, Norman C. Plant Physiology, April 2001, Vol. 125, pp.1543-1545. Available: www.plantphysiol.org ~ “Questions and Answers,” The National Organic Program. Available: http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/Q&A.html ~ “Risks of Genetic Engineering: Case Study, Bt Cotton.” Union of Concerned Scientists. Available http://www.ucsusa.org ~ “Untested, Unlabeled, And You’re Eating It: The Health and Environmental Hazards of Genetically Engineered Food.” Mendelson III, Joseph. The Fatal Harvest Reader. Available: http://www.fatalharvest.org/toxic_trail.htm ~ “Biotechnology Information Series: Insect Resistant Crops through Genetic Engineering.” Webber, Glenda D. Available http://www.biotech/iastate.edu/biotech_info_series/bio9.html