快猫短视频

IT LOOKS just like an ordinary oilseed rape plant, but farmers in Canada know
it as 鈥淪mart Canola鈥�. Because it carries genes for resistance to two families of
herbicides, the farmers can kill off every weed in sight, without fear of
damaging their harvest.

The prospect of plants that could in effect conspire with farmers to produce
chemically sterilised fields has sent Europe鈥檚 conservationists into a flat
spin. They have issued dire warnings about the perils of agricultural
biotechnology and call for moratoriums on GM plantings. But Smart Canola is not
quite what it seems. While European officials agonise over the pros and cons of
growing GM crops, they could do little to stop farmers planting this oilseed
rape. The reason: Smart Canola is not genetically engineered.

快猫短视频s at Pioneer Hi-Bred in Des Moines, Iowa, used normal breeding and
selection techniques to create Smart Canola. This involved screening thousands
of naturally occurring variants for strains resistant to herbicides. The company
rejects any suggestion that its crops will encourage farmers to sterilise their
fields and thus harm wildlife. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 just go out there and apply these
chemicals randomly,鈥� says company spokesman Tim Martin.

But because the crop is not genetically engineered, Martin鈥檚 assertion would
not need to be put to the test before the rape could be grown in Europe. The
only trials required would be experimental plantings designed to evaluate its
performance to confirm that it really is a novel variety. In fact, Pioneer has
already made one application to market Smart Canola in Britain. This was turned
down, but only because the yield was too low鈥攁 problem the company is
confident it can solve.

Smart Canola is just one of several conventionally bred crops that could in
theory pose the same environmental hazards as GM plants. And yet these crops
would bypass rules compelling companies to show that their GM crops are unlikely
to create environmental problems. Other plants that could slip through the net
include maize and soya beans designed to resist the same herbicides as Smart
Canola, also from Pioneer Hi-Bred.

David Robinson of the Scottish Crop Research Institute near Dundee, a member
of the British government鈥檚 Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment
(ACRE), says existing legislation is plagued by a 鈥渄ouble standard鈥� that defies
reason. 鈥淭he idea that herbicide resistant crops produced by genetic engineering
are inherently more hazardous than ones produced by conventional techniques is
simply nonsense,鈥� he says.

This point is reiterated in a report from ACRE on GM crops and wildlife that
was released last week. Headlines claimed that the document detailed a catalogue
of environmental disasters waiting to happen, from genes escaping from GM crops
to create superweeds to insect and bird populations already decimated by
intensive farming being killed off by genetic engineering.

In fact, the report is an even-handed analysis of the risks and benefits of
introducing the crops onto Britain鈥檚 farmland. It鈥檚 true that the conservation
watchdog English Nature has called for a ban on commercial plantings of GM crops
that are resistant to broad spectrum herbicides. It is worried that more
farmland would be wiped clean of wild plants as a result. The ACRE report
acknowledges these fears but also lists possible advantages. These include less
need to till soil to control weeds, which could help stem erosion.

One of the document鈥檚 more alarming observations has nothing to do with GM
crops, however. 鈥淧otential adverse effects,鈥� it notes, 鈥渕ay be just as likely to
occur as a result of conventional plant breeding programmes.鈥�

Martin takes a more positive view of ACRE鈥檚 statements on the similarity
between GM and conventional crops. 鈥淚 see it as affirmation that conventional
breeding can work just as well,鈥� he says.

But for environmentalists, the ACRE report carries as a sobering message.
While they concentrate on attacking GM crops, the plants鈥� conventionally bred
cousins could sneak into Europe through the back door.