This season, Scotts plans to test genetically modified Blue Grass in some of its employees’ lawns in Marryville, Oh, reported here in the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio.
I have always been wary of genetically modified products, but I have never fancied myself a Chicken Little type. I understand that there is good to be gained from some of the products. However, I think this is a big mistake and here is why.
Right now, Roundup is used pretty sparingly and does a good job. What is going to happen when your entire lawn is Roundup resistant? I can tell you. People will be spraying this stuff like crazy with no regard for the side-effects.
Does anyone remember DDT? DDT was a great product, but was overused and caused a lot of damage to our environment. Had the EPA restricted its use instead of doing away with it, I say we could have saved a lot of lives all around the world. DDT was great at controlling insect-borne diseases like malaria.
Back to my point. If and when this grass comes to market and they are claiming as early as 2015, we will see a huge increase in Roundup use. How long do you think this will last until we have huge side-effects from overuse? 5 years, maybe 10? I can only guess. When that happens, politicians and the FDA (Who deregulated this development, read about it here) will cry with their typical false outrage and demand it be taken off of the market. Once off of the market we will be left with inferior weed control options. This makes me wonder if Monsanto has a new product up their sleeve.
Another bad side effect of this Grass Frankenstein is this and should be the most obvious one! We already struggle to keep turf grass in the lawn and out of our flower beds. How in the world are we going to keep it out of our beds if it is ROUNDUP PROOF?!!!!
Look, I like Scotts and I like Monsanto. They make good products and help us a lot in the landscaping industry, but I think this is short sighted and VERY dangerous!
Do you think this is a bad idea? Let us hear what you think. Please comment below.
