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Anastasia on 25 August 2010
Roundup Ready sugar beets have been back in the news due to the decision by Judge White to revoke approval. As I understand it, the USDA conduced an Environmental Assessment for Roundup Ready sugar beets but did not conduct an Environmental Impact Statement. According to regulation, an EA is sufficient if potential harm is found to be minimal, but an EIS is needed for anything that is less well understood, such as a new trait (and this is hardly a new trait). After reading the EA, I agree with the USDA that the potential environmental harm is minimal, and I think the potential economic harm is minimal as well, due to some very specific characteristics of beet biology, which I’ll explain in this post, followed by a discussion of mitigation strategies that might be used to control gene flow in beets (sorry, folks, this is going to be another long one).
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Karl Haro von Mogel on 23 March 2010
Anastasia and James look like they have had a fun and scientifically enlightening trip to Italy to attend the Maize Genetics Conference. Frank was also there, but appears to have parted ways with them – off on some other adventure, I imagine. When they mentioned last year at the MGC that this year’s conference would be in Italy, I salivated and dreamed of the reams of data I would pile up to earn a ticket on the lab’s dollar. But no, I did not go to this year’s conference, except in name. (We had an official Biofortified poster that Anastasia and I put together, hoping for some new phloem for these here inter-sieve-tubes.)
I must say that I’m a bit jealous about missing out on all the science – conferences are great ways to cram your brain with the latest research and the directions the field is taking. The science is the same whether you are in Italy, or Illinois, Washington D.C., or even places as remote as… the capital of Wisconsin. I’m hoping to absorb half of what they retained by reading their excellent summaries.
But then again, they went to Italy! I’ve never been to Europe before. Heck I haven’t been out of North America unless you count the Hawaiian Islands. So I would be forlorn about that, if I wasn’t getting on a plane this morning and flying to Thailand!
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I’m back from my 
Ten bad reasons why GE is incompatible with Organic
This is part II of a three-part series on Orgenic Backlash. How is the organic sector handling the argument in favor of integrating of genetically engineered crops into organic agricultural systems?
Previously, I showed how Jim Riddle’s 10 reasons why genetic engineering is incompatible with organic agriculture apply equally well to plant breeding. But many plant breeding techniques are allowed in organic agriculture. So how can these characteristics apply to both breeding and genetic engineering while one is compatible and the other is not? The answer lies in a tangled web of invalid logic and unsound argumentation. It requires not only misrepresenting genetic engineering, it also misrepresents organic agriculture. Let’s go through point by point. (You might need a cup of coffee or a stiff drink)
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