NEW ENGLAND New technology sows seeds of discontent
Boston Globe
By Alice Giordano, Globe Correspondent, 05/16/99
NOTTINGHAM, N.H. - His fingertips pruned from hours spent sowing
seeds in the moisture-drenched soils of his three farms in Nottingham
and Lee, Charlie Reid holds out one of the lettuce seeds he harvested from
last year's crops.
The ''terminator,'' he says, could make it impossible for him to reuse the seeds
in the future.
The terminator is a new kind of seed, specially designed to sterilize itself so
that farmers can't plant next year's crops without buying new seeds. Its
inventors say the technology will encourage agricultural advances by
protecting against the piracy of patented seeds, the products of expensive
genetic engineering.
But to farmers like Reid, who has commercially grown organic vegetables,
poultry, and eggs under the name of Stone Wall Farms for three decades, the
development does not sound like progress. They fear that terminator
technology will be the end for small farmers who depend on the cost-saving
custom of saving seeds.
Now the controversy has moved from the fields of New England to its state
houses. Last week, the Environment and Agriculture Committee of the New
Hampshire Legislature called for a state ban on terminator seeds and crops.
Under the proposal, an individual caught growing or selling terminator seeds
in the state would be subject to a fine of up to $1,000. A company would be
charged with a felony and face fines between $20,000 and $100,000.
In Maine, legislators are considering a bill that would require labels on any
foods grown with genetically engineered seeds, including terminator seeds.
The New Hampshire bill has won attention from farmers and farming
organizations nationally.
Ted Quaday, program director of Farm Aid, a Cambridge, Mass.-based
organization which represents rural farmers in New England and nationally,
said his group is hopeful the New Hampshire legislation will serve as a model
for other states.
''The whole concept of the terminator gene is abhorrent,'' said Quaday. ''It
threatens independent farming.''
But the US Department of Agriculture, inventor of the technology and a
co-owner of its patent, says, if anything, the terminator will help farmers
because it will give seed companies an incentive to develop new and more
diverse crop varieties knowing their investment will be protected.
''Really, what terminator technology will give all of us is more and better
varieties to choose from,'' said Sandy Hays, director of information at
USDA's Advanced Research Services.
Dr. Harold Collins, vice president of technology at Delta & Pine Land, the
Mississippi company that co-owns the patent on terminator technology with
the USDA, also pointed out that there will always be nonsterilizing seeds
available commercially.
And opponents of terminator technology, he added, overlook the fact that his
company and other future patent holders of sterilizing seeds will be permitted
to use the method only on its own patented varieties.
''Terminator technology has really been blown way out of proportion,'' said
Collins. ''All it is, is a way for seed producers to protect [their] products, the
same way makers of music CDs and computer software programs do by
copyrighting them.''
Russell Libby, a Maine farmer and executive director of the Maine Organic
Farmers and Gardeners Association, said self-sterilizing seeds also pose a
danger of pollinating other crops and sterilizing them.
Hays agrees that such a risk exists and emphasized that the USDA will
closely monitor the seed's use.
''That's why it is so important USDA co-own the patent on this technology,''
she said.
The terminator is only the latest in the growing trend of genetically
engineered crops to reap controversy. An organic food company, for
example, is now suing the Environmental Protection Agency for approving a
genetically engineered corn variety that contaminated a large batch of corn
chips it produces.
While there was no evidence the accidental mixture posed any health risks,
Terra Prima of Hudson, Wis., shut down production and pulled 80,000 bags of
the corn chips from store shelves after the chips tested positive for the
genetically engineered corn.
The source was traced to a Texas organic farmer whose fields are located
close to land used to grow genetically engineered corn.
In November, farmers in India burned two cotton fields after learning the
crops were grown from an experimental seed engineered with an insecticide.
The seeds were being grown for Monsanto Co., producer of herbicides like
Roundup and one-time maker of the ill-fated Agent Orange.
The St. Louis-based chemical company has bought several seed companies
and is in the process of acquiring Delta & Pine Land and thus the marketing
rights of the terminator.
Monsanto had planned to use the technology to protect its extensive collection
of genetically engineered seeds, including one called Roundup Ready.
But last month, the company released a statement that it would not
commercialize it until all concerns about the technology could be heard.
The announcement, however, only drew more criticism from its adversaries,
including the Rural Advancement Foundation International, a farm advocacy
group based in Pittsboro, N.C., and one of several organizations that testified
Thursday in support of the proposed ban in New Hampshire.
Hope Shand, the organization's research director, said she believes the
company is trying to deflect attention away from the legislation. ''Monsanto
knows this bill will encourage other states if not to ban terminator, to at least
look at the issue,'' she said.
This story ran on page D11 of the Boston Globe on 05/16/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
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