Tuesday, 25 May 2004

Crop Busting

Monsanto Wins Landmark Biotech Case Against Canadian Farmer

The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled in favor of biotech giant Monsanto in a case widely thought to be pivotal for the biotech industry. The court determined late last week that Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser had violated a Monsanto patent by growing the company's herbicide-resistant canola without paying a licensing fee. Schmeiser contended that he didn't plant the GM crop deliberately but rather that his fields were "polluted" by the crop, possibly by pollen blown in from a neighboring farm. Monsanto hailed the court for setting "a world standard in intellectual property protection." GM opponents the world over were troubled by the court's decision, which they fear will set a disturbing precedent. The only plus for Schmeiser was that the high court overturned a lower-court ruling requiring him to pay more than $100,000 in damages and court costs.

Open-source Agriculture

Smart Breeding Holds Promise of Replacing GM Foods

Imagine a technology that can produce all the benefits of biotech crops -- resistance to pests and pesticides, long shelf life, rapid (or delayed) ripening, etc. -- without the worries about environmental harm, corporate consolidation, and international trade wars. Some researchers believe they have discovered -- or rather, rediscovered -- just such a science. It harkens back to centuries-old methods of cross-breeding and hybridization and adds a new twist from contemporary genomics. Scientists are now able to map the genetic code of crops, analyze the gene markers for various traits, and quickly breed several generations of a crop in laboratory cultures, thereby doing in a short time what once took decades. It's called "smart breeding" and it's producing crops called "super organics." Some researchers hope to turn smart breeding into the equivalent of the open-source movement in software, putting info about plants into the public domain for free use.

The Full Vermonty

State of Vermont Endangered by Wal-Mart, Group Says

The National Trust for Historic Preservation released its list of endangered historic sites yesterday, citing such imperiled landmarks as Pennsylvania's Bethlehem Works steel plant, Utah's Nine Mile Canyon, and the state of Vermont. Yup, the whole state. According to the trust, mega-retailer Wal-Mart's aggressive plans for expansion in the state threaten its unique small-town character. Critics have long contended that the arrival of a Wal-Mart "Supercenter" decimates small businesses and town centers and creates poverty-level jobs with meager health-care benefits, not to mention the environmental harm of increased sprawl, traffic congestion, and loss of open space. Given all this, one might wonder why the company has, according to a new study by Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy group, received more than $1 billion in local and state government subsidies over recent decades.

Audit, Shucks

U.S. Nuclear Contractors Underreporting Worker Injuries

Government contractors have underreported injuries and illnesses at Hanford Nuclear Reservation and other nuclear cleanup projects for years, creating a false image of safety for their own enrichment, according to a new federal audit. The Department of Energy, responsible for overseeing cleanups at the Hanford site in southern Washington state and other sites around the U.S., has used flawed data to assess safety programs, identify safety issues and trends, and determine how much to pay some large contractors, as some portion of payment can be tied to safety records. The audit, performed by the DOE's inspector general, found that even when mistakes were discovered they were not always corrected, and pointed to serious "weaknesses in the department's quality-assurance process." Watchdog groups have long alleged safety problems at Hanford, the nation's largest nuclear cleanup site, saying that contractors have played down danger to workers from gases seeping from storage tanks. "We're convinced that this audit report simply scratches the surface," said Tom Carpenter of the nonprofit Government Accountability Project.

You Want Fries With That?

High Gas Prices Increase Popularity of Biofuel

Many enviros have been bonkers for biofuel for years -- trust us, we have the letters to prove it. But with gas prices heading for the stratosphere, the idea of using vegetable oil to power cars is spreading. Some restaurant owners happily give their used oil away as they might otherwise have to pay to dispose of it, and the lucky recipients can then strain it and use it in retrofitted diesel engines, where it cuts down on emissions of carbon dioxide, particulates, and other pollutants. Since veggie oil must be heated before it can be used (it tends to congeal at cool temperatures), a petroleum-based fuel is often used to start the car. Many biofuelers turn for this purpose to a mixture of vegetable oil and diesel gasoline. A Massachusetts company called Greasecar is buying veggie oil in bulk from regional distributors and reselling it for 90 cents a gallon; it also sells kits that can convert diesel engines to run on vegetable oil.