permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SANET-MG] "Honey Sweet" GMO plum
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 07:25:12 -0800
From: Barry Lia <barrylia@COMCAST.NET>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

We've been discussing (direct action) against GMO Alfalfa.  Any word
on the "Honey Sweet" pox virus resistant plum tree, which USDA has
been helping European colleagues introduce?

http://www.reeis.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/412512.html

The following is from a 2006 campaign notice of the Stop GE Trees
Campaign of the Global Justice Ecology Project (no longer accessible
online):

"The USDA admits that this GE plum will contaminate both organic and
conventional non-genetically engineered plum orchards if it is
approved. Since all commercial plum trees are cultivars that are
relatively cross compatible within the same species, Prunus domestica,
contamination via GE plum pollen carried by bees and other insects
will infiltrate the plum orchards of organic and conventional growers.
The proposed buffer zones between GE plums and other plums will not
prevent genetic contamination from being spread by pollinating insects.

The one GE fruit tree that has previously been approved, a virus
resistant Hawaiian papaya, has caused extensive contamination of
organic, conventional and wild papaya orchards on most of the Hawaiian
Islands in just a few years. This contamination has spread far more
quickly than the USDA predicted in its initial assessment. Once native
and cultivated plum varieties are contaminated with transgenic pollen,
there is no calling it back. This petition has implications for all
other GE tree species, as the USDA and the industry want to gauge what
the public's reaction will be."

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Barry Lia \ barrylia@comcast.net \ Seattle WA
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