Grass! On! The! Loose!
Photo by Luc Hautecoeur/Getty Images
This is hysterical. And sad. But mostly hysterical. From the Times: “GM grass takes a walk on the wild side.” (My knee-jerk reaction was, “GM again? First they put toy Hummers into Happy Meals and now they’re releasing mutant grass? IS NOTHING SACRED?”)
A genetically modified grass designed to improve golf courses and lawns has caused alarm in the US after escaping into the wild.
Creeping bentgrass, Agrostis stolonifera, has spread up to three miles outside a test site in Oregon with nine different plants being identified.
It had been modified to make it impervious to the herbicide glysophate and was designed to appeal to golf course managers who would be able to spray large areas to kill off weeds without damaging the grass.
Homeowners were considered another lucrative market because it could help them to create perfect lawns in front of their houses.
The US Department of Agriculture has ordered a full environmental audit of its impact and spread to determine the threat to wildlife. Unlike GM crops such as maize and soybeans, which are annuals and unable to reproduce, the perennial grass was able to produce seeds during outdoor tests.
Some of the plants found outside the test site, reports New Scientist, had grown from seeds produced by the GM parent. Others were hybrids derived from a non-GM plant being pollinated by one of the modified specimens.
Incidentally, cross-pollination between GM crops and neighboring organic crops is a pressing issue for many organic farmers because it could invalidate U.K. Soil Association or USDA organic certification.
Pesticides may be able to exterminate creepy crawlies and other gross-out household pests, but guess what, they’re slowly killing you, too. The man-made chemicals we favor are like the nose-picking houseguest we just can’t seem to get rid of—for instance, an average of 200 industrial compounds, pollutants and other chemicals were recently discovered in the umbilical cord blood of newborns. (These included seven dangerous pesticides, some of which were banned in the U.S. over 30 years ago.) We’re serving our kids potent chemical cocktails even before they are born—not quite the head-start they may have been hoping to get.
The toxic chemicals mimic hormone activity, impeding reproductive and mental development in fetuses and children, as well as resulting in nausea, dizziness, vomiting, convulsions, and asthma. As steady doses of pesticides accumulate in our bodies, they can lead to infertility, nerve and neurological damage, blood and lymphatic system cancers, cancers of the lip, stomach, lung, brain, and prostate, plus melanoma and other skin cancers. In fact, cancer is the second leading cause of death among children. (Accidents rank first.) Pesticides have also been implicated in Parkinson’s disease.
The choice is obvious: ditch the poisons. Natural, safe, and non-toxic methods of corralling pests abound online, many of them using items you already have in your kitchen cabinet. We recently won a war with marauding ants by spraying our counters and floors with vinegar. And if I happen to give our surfaces a curious lick, all I’ll get is a bad taste in my mouth.
felicia sullivan said,
August 10, 2006 at 10:57 pm
OMIGOD. I heart this cat. Seriously.
budak said,
August 11, 2006 at 2:59 am
I hate golf!! Hate manicured lawns!! So much hate!!!
thissinglespark said,
August 11, 2006 at 10:47 am
Dear Chekhov,
We don’t use chemicals in our house either. In fact, we don’t need to because all of us pitch in to help keep our home pest-free. I eat every spider I see, Rufus chows down on the ants and Hansel does his business out on the lawn, effectively killing large patches of unnecessary grass. Hope your faithful readers find our pest control tips helpful.
Sincerely,
Cleo
Heidi said,
August 11, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Seriously? Vinegar? I feel like I’ve tried everything (our catfood bowls are sitting in a moat of water on a platter) to keep them from eating the kibble! But I haven’t tried vinegar.
As for lawns…meh. Why, oh why are lawns so precious? I’m personally aiming for a front yard like the Path to Freedom yard (http://pathtofreedom.com/journal/)
Chekhov, you’re adorable!
Kathy said,
August 11, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Yeah that’s a cute kitty right there. Our pest problems are being handled by various torture methods possibily originating with the Inquisition - drowning, the Screen, the junk-mail-whack-out-of-midair, the Book, the tissue. No pesticides necessary as of yet. Grass is still hateful.
Jessica said,
August 11, 2006 at 1:59 pm
We had a horrible ant invasion last year and I used diluted dishwashing liquid (the eco-friendly kind) in a spray bottle to keep them at bay. Apparantly it dissolves their little exoskeletons and they die almost instantly (if I remember correctly). You have to be vigilant initially but after we got rid of them they didn’t come back and my kitchen was really clean!
green la girl said,
August 12, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Jasmin — Seen this? A lil something for the enviro-conscious cat –
Michelle said,
August 12, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Great pic!
Don’t even get me started on GM and Monsanto and all that. My personal biggest gripe is what they have done to small farmers in other countries as well. Augh.
The Worsted Witch » Monsanto Man said,
August 17, 2006 at 12:10 pm
[...] Remember the killer mutie grass that “escaped” from a test site? Guess which company was behind the unapproved genetically modified turf? Give ya a hint: It starts with “M” and rhymes with “Satan, Prince of Darkness”. [...]
The Worsted Witch » The Pesticide-Parkinson’s Equation said,
September 15, 2006 at 6:28 pm
[...] Related articles: 1. Under the Nile Headed for Target 2. Grass! On! The! Loose! (Chekhov’s Eco Tip) 3. Lawn & Order 4. Eco-Me Home: Green Cleaning Solutions 5. Pollution in People 6. Eulogy for Swiffer 7. Maybe Baby: Chemicals & Kids 5. Why Pesticides Suck Reason #785 [...]
The Worsted Witch » Mail Call: Nontoxic Shower Curtains said,
October 16, 2006 at 2:32 pm
[...] In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified at least four compounds classified as hazardous air pollutants by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Plastic shower curtains are also commonly treated with antimicrobial pesticides, which, as I’ve mentioned before, can lead to infertility, nerve and neurological damage, blood and lymphatic system cancers, cancers of the lip, stomach, lung, brain, and prostate, plus melanoma and other skin cancers. Pesticides have also been implicated in Parkinson’s disease. [...]
The Worsted Witch » Pesticides in Produce said,
October 30, 2006 at 3:28 pm
[...] Related articles: 1. The Pesticide-Parkinson’s Equation 2. Grass! On! The! Loose! (Chekhov’s Eco Tip) 3. Lawn & Order 4. Vinegar: Disinfectant of Champions 5. Eco-Me Home: Green Cleaning Solutions 6. Pollution in People 7. Eulogy for Swiffer 8. Maybe Baby: Chemicals & Kids 9. Why Pesticides Suck Reason #785 [...]
The Worsted Witch » Chemical Pollution Harms Kids’ Brains said,
November 13, 2006 at 1:15 pm
[...] Related articles: 1. Pesticides in Produce 2. The Pesticide-Parkinson’s Equation 3. Grass! On! The! Loose! (Chekhov’s Eco Tip) 4. Lawn & Order 5. Vinegar: Disinfectant of Champions 6. Eco-Me Home: Green Cleaning Solutions 7. Pollution in People 8 . Eulogy for Swiffer 9. Maybe Baby: Chemicals & Kids 10. Why Pesticides Suck Reason #785 [...]
Tara said,
June 24, 2009 at 9:47 am
I called all the eco-friendly grass companies to see if they are selling this seed and here’s what I found-
-Eco-Lawn sells a native grass (fescue mix) which doesn’t sound like a no mowing grass since it can get 12″ +. Great for naturalizing but not really a low maint. lawn grass.
-NoMowGrass sells a naturally short NON-GM grass but it is a hybrid between 2 short bent grasses and it is sensitive to any chemicals. It is the shortest grass available on the market to the average consumer. It’s my choice since it needs less mowing - if at all.
-EnviroLawn sells another fescue blend with other stuff in it (white flowers & clovers) also requires mowing (harmful to environment).
As for the Path To Freedom kind of lawn - the native fescues have endophytes which might be harmful to animals that eat it so my cat won’t be coughing up grass balls - just fur-balls. And if I ever came to getting a goat or chickens, the grass I would tractor them on would be preferred to already be short.
My guess- a lot of companies don’t like the low maintenance lawns - think of all the mowers that won’t get sold, the chemicals that remain on the shelf, the TIME people will have saved . . . so they put out stories like this to keep people from buying those products when it is really the greenest thing you can do for your health, your family & pets and the environment. . . its a “lawn conspiracy”.
Tara in Austin