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Parallel biopolitical universes

Nature Biotechnology volume 25, pages 33–34 (2007)Cite this article

To the editor:

One need look no further than the farms of Europe where BASF's (Ludwigshafen, Germany) herbicide-resistant 'CLEARFIELD' crops can be found. In Europe, these herbicide-resistant crops include rice, maize, oilseed rape and sunflowers, with wheat likely soon to follow. The CLEARFIELD trait enables these upgraded crops to endure a broad-spectrum herbicide normally deadly to the plant. This characteristic is heritable plus likely transmissible to other crops of the same species and to weedy relations. CLEARFIELD herbicide-resistant crop varieties have been created using mutagenesis and/or traditional breeding methods and are free of 'introduced' genetic material. Thus, they are not considered to be a genetically modified organism (GMO) by the EU (Brussels) and are not covered by Directive 2001/18/EC3. Nevertheless, BASF itself has seen fit to develop a Grower Stewardship Plan to reduce the environmental risks that they claim could exist. Indeed, Tan et al.4—four of the five authors of this publication are BASF scientists—state: “Management of herbicide-resistant weeds and gene flow from crops to weeds are issues that must be considered with the development of any herbicide-resistant crop. Thus, extensive stewardship programs have been developed to address these issues for CLEARFIELD crops”4.

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    Shane H Morris

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Morris, S. Parallel biopolitical universes. Nat Biotechnol 25, 33–34 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0107-33

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