I live near Cornell and knew the people who did the early work on Harpin. I
also remember Eden Biosciences' early efforts at selling 'Messenger' and
getting it reviewed for possible use on organic farms.
There was never any real doubt that it could not be used on organic farms.
The gist of the review was that while using natural harpin proteins to
stimulate disease resistance in plants could have been allowed under NOP
rules, the product called 'Messenger' was clearly not allowed because it is
produced using 'excluded methods'.
That seems like a simple common sense ruling and there is no reason for it
to be any different now.
I also remember that the bigger problem with Messenger was that it did not
perform reliably. In some trials, it gave excellent protection, while in
others it had no measurable effect. It seemed that there were some
environmental interactions that determined the effectiveness of the product.
Klaas Martens
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