(large snip)
If you want to
>isolate your organic corn field 660 feet from GMO varieties, you have to
>deal with, and possibly pay the surrounding growers to not grow GMO corn.
>If the wind blows hard during flowering, and you get a percent or two GMO
>contamination anyway, then it is your problem. This is not a new issue, and
>I believe there is legal precedent for all this. I will look into it.
First I want to thank Dale, Roberto and Douglas and anybody else who has
contributed to this thread. I for one have learned a lot about this issue.
I hope Dale can respond to Roberto's biological concerns. This is
getting to the meat of the issue, politics aside. What is the biological
reality of BT corn and other crops?
I do have one concern with the "cost externalization" proposed by Dale
above with respect to the damage that GMO pollen has on other farmers
crops. Let's do a quick thought experiment here.
CORN SMUT WONDER DRUG DISCOVERED
screams the headline of your local newspaper. The wonder drug is touted by
the health community as a cure for Whatever Disease. I have an exclusive
contract to sell corn smut to the drug company because I have a patent on
my version of smut as a new wonder drug.
Now, some questions.
Do I have the right to grow my corn smut next to your corn field? (Here I
assume that corn smut is a wind borne spore and remember, you cannot
participate in the corn smut market because I have a patent on using smut
to make the new wonder drug.)
Would I not be liable for your losses if my corn smut is so agressive that
it infects your whole crop and makes it unuseable for its intended purpose?
To prevent me from totally trashing your crops, do you have to pay me the
opportunity cost of not raising corn smut for my new life saving, smut
derived wonder drug?
I am not a lawyer but I find it hard to believe that this would be legal.
It is obviously immoral but if it is legal it would sure be a nasty way to
settle a score with your neighbor. Mike Miller
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