Slashdot Mirror
Cyanide-Producing GM Grass Linked To Texas Cattle Deaths
Peristaltic writes "Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are trying to determine if an unexpected mutation in a popular GM grass, Tifton 85, is responsible for the sudden deaths of a small herd of cattle in Elgin, Texas three weeks ago. The grass has been used for grazing since 1992 without incident, however after a severe drought last year in Texas, the grass started producing cyanide in sufficient quantities to kill a small herd of cattle in Elgin, Texas. Testing has found the cyanide-producing grass in nearby fields as well." Update: 06/23 22:59 GMT by T : Reader Jon Cousins writes with a correction that means the headline above is inaccurate for including "GM." Tifton 85, he writes, is "absolutely not genetically modified. It's a conventionally bred hybrid."
This same comment (close enough as to make certain that it is the same author) appears on the comments of the news article itself. It seems to me that Monsanto's team of hired spin doctors are working some overtime this weekend.
And most grassy fields don't kill a herd of livestock.
Since you must be a botanist familiar with grass, can you follow the trail back for me? Did you work with Dr. Burton on it? All I've found is that is a hybrid of PI-290884 and Tifton 68. By the names, I assume they're also hybrid or GM. What is the lineage all the way back to native plants?
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Tifton 85 is a conventionally bred grass.
Ah - a conventionally bred grass doing this?
Just wait and see what GM can do.
Maybe the whole story is just to whitewash GM.....