Missing entirely from the story about the hearing on genetically engineered crops, “Liability over gene-altered crops debated” (BDN, April 24), is mention of the provisions in LD 1650 that concern jurisdiction (the right to resolution of legal disputes in Maine courts, not those of other states where patent holders reside) and protection from unreasonable search and seizure (now written into all contracts with Monsanto and other biotech seed companies, who routinely invade farmers’ lands looking for escaped “intellectual property.”)

Nor is it made clear that by making GE patent holders, not farmers, liable for unintentional contamination of crops with foreign DNA, LD 1650 would protect conventional as well as organic growers.

A federal district judge ruled in March that USDA must halt all new field trials of GE crops until more environmental reviews are conducted (www.non-gmoreport.com). Why? Because escaping GE pollen threatens public health and the environment. Genetic modification is a haphazard experimental technology that relies on profligate use of pesticides.

Damage to soil microorganisms and beneficial insects (including the imperiled honeybee) is inevitable, as are herbicide-resistant weeds. (When weeds become resistant to herbicides, more chemical use – not less – is considered necessary to eradicate them.)

Although more than one farmer testified on April 23 that it’s impossible to build a fence high enough or tight enough to keep out GE-pollen drift, Robert Tardy of the Biotechnology Information Organization wants LD 1650 amended to require organic (non-GMO) growers – not those responsible for genetic trespass – to establish buffer zones to prevent commingling.

This is, of course, a tacit admission that genetic drift onto non-GMO fields will ruin any farm operation whose markets demand GE-free produce.

LD 1650 could help prevent such economic and environmental devastation in Maine.

Jody Spear

Harborside