Bayer
Admits GMO Contamination "Out Of
Control"
Drug and chemical giant Bayer AG has
admitted that there is no way to stop the
uncontrolled spread of its genetically
modified crops. "Even the best
practices can't guarantee perfection,"
said Mark Ferguson, the company's defense
lawyer in a recent trial. Two Missouri
farmers sued Bayer for contaminating their
crop with modified genes from an
experimental strain of rice engineered to be
resistant to the company's Liberty-brand
herbicide. The contamination occurred in
2006, during an open field test of the new
rice, which was not approved for human
consumption. According to the plaintiffs'
lawyer, Don Downing, genetic material from
the unapproved rice contaminated more than
30 percent of all rice cropland in the
United States. "Bayer was supposed to
be careful," Downing said. "Bayer
was not careful and that rice did escape
into our commercial rice supplies." The
plaintiffs alleged that in addition to
contaminating their fields, Bayer further
harmed them financially by undermining their
export market. When the U.S. Department of
Agriculture announced the widespread rice
contamination, important export markets were
closed to U.S. producers. A report from
Greenpeace International estimates the
financial damage of the contamination at
between $741 million and $1.3 billion.