LAKE COUNTY — Approximately 50 people attended a Tuesday workshop dealing with genetically engineered crops in the Lake County Board of Supervisors chambers. The workshop did not require the board to take action.
Board Chairman Ed Robey called the workshop after the Lake County Coalition for Responsible Agriculture requested that the board pass an ordinance to ban genetically engineered crops in the county. He said the group brought up the discussion in 2004, but the ordinance was voted down 3-2. Plant experts and members of the public spoke both in favor of and against genetically engineered crops.
“Since this is such a controversial issue, I thought it would be wiser have a discussion in the format of a workshop to talk about these things and decide if we want to pursue an ordinance or some other process,” Robey said.
Supervisor Denise Rushing said she wanted to hear from all sides about what elements to include in an ordinance governing GE agriculture.
“I tend to err on the side of caution and protecting natural systems, and protecting the future of our food security,” Rushing said.
University of California (UC) Berkeley Cooperative Extension Specialist Peggy Lemaux told the board that creating a crossbreed was like “cutting and pasting genetic information out of a plant” to create a new plant with a desirable genetic trait. She said 75 percent of processed foods contain genetically engineered ingredients.
Genetically engineered crops include corn, soybeans, cotton and alfalfa that have been modified to resist herbicides so that farmers can spray for weeds without killing the crops. In some cases, crops are modified to kill pests.
“Forcefully inserting DNA from an unrelated organic specimen into a target specimen is not as simple as removing part of a page of one book into another. The leaves of books don”t interact the same way living organisms interact ? they interact with unpredictable dynamics,” Mendocino County farmer Doug Mosel said.
Mosel told the board he led a 2004 campaign to make Mendocino County the first genetic engineering (GE)-free zone in America.
Konocti Bay micro-organic grape grower Monte Black told the board he would lose his contract with a local winery if his grapes were inadvertently cross-pollinated with genetically engineered crops.
Robey said Assembly Bill 541 aims to protect farmers whose crops are inadvertently cross-pollinated from legal repercussions from seed companies who hold the patents on genetically engineered seeds.
Speaker Michelle Scully said she believed the issue could be handled without the need for an ordinance.
“It”s like when your husband leaves the cap off of the toothpaste, and instead of asking him to put it on, you ask him for a divorce. There can be working groups, and I think there should be some dialog,” Scully said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
