Gardeners must know their seed suppliers to prevent GM transgenic contamination

With pollen from Monsanto's genetically engineered Roundup Ready sugar beets in the wind, gardeners must get to know their seed suppliers if they're going to keep their vegetable beds free from genetically engineered DNA.

"Similar to how the food scares like E. coli in spinach and peppers have driven people to get closer to their source of food, the concern about genetically engineered seed and pollen spreading around means that you need to know where your seed comes from," said Tom Stearns, owner and president of High Mowing Organic Seeds in Wolcott, Vt. "You need to have a relationship with the company, and make sure that the company itself knows where their seed is coming from."

Sugar beets, chard and table beets can pollinate one another. Couple that with the tendency of genetically engineered pollen and seed to ignore the boundaries we set for them, and the fact that seed for all three crops is grown primarily in Oregon's Willamette Valley, and there is real concern that we'll soon be tending genetically contaminated chard and beets in the backyard.

Simply buying organic chard and table beet seed won't ensure that the seed has not been contaminated. Though the National Organic Program prohibits certified organic seed from containing genetically engineered DNA, unless a seed company is testing for genetic contamination, the company won't know whether its seed was cross-pollinated by genetically engineered sugar beets.

Gardeners must question seed companies about how they are isolating their seed fields from genetically engineered sugar beet seed fields, and whether they are testing their chard and table beet seed.

"The best way to make sure that you're not buying seed contaminated by genetically engineered DNA is to buy organic seed from a reputable source," Stearns said. "You need to be buying from a company who is either doing testing, or doing field inspections, or who has as direct a relationship to where they're sourcing seed as possible."

Resources

All three of these sources for organic chard and beet seed are testing their chard and table beet seed for contamination by genetically engineered DNA.

High Mowing Organic Seeds

76 Quarry Road

Wolcott, VT 05680

(802) 472-6174

http://www.highmowingseeds.com


Seeds of Change

P.O. Box 15700

Santa Fe, NM 87592

(888) 762-7333

http://www.seedsofchange.com


Wild Garden Seed

P.O. Box 1509

Philomath, OR 97370

(541) 929-4068

http://www.wildgardenseed.com
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Transgenic contamination is not just confined to open fields and the seeds grown in them. The contamination can spread even to the seeds you buy as a gardener. Knowing where the seeds you buy come from is an important step to preventing GM pollution from spreading to your own backyard garden.