Organic Farmers Fear of GE Contaminated Crops

Many organic farmers fear that the apples, pumpkins and other crops they grow in California one day might be contaminated by genetically engineered varieties from a neighboring farms that grow GE plants and collect GE crops. If that happens, such farmers can't be certified as organic and it could ruin their businesses. By inserting genetic material from one organism into another, growers can create crops with specific traits more quickly and easily then they can through traditional plant breeding. The method is used for everything from adding nutrients and causing vegetables to ripen more slowly to making plants insect resistant and bolstering crop yields. Today, federal authorities estimate, about 100 million acres of biologically altered crops are grown each year in the USA. 600,000 of those acres - mostly devoted to corn, cotton and alfalfa - are in California, according to state farm bureau estimates. But that is likely to increase. Agriculture experts say farmers in the state are testing genetically altered lettuce, grapes,apples, strawberries, peppers and squash among other produce.