Company wants hard-to-kill GMO grass deregulated

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Federal agriculture officials could decide this week to give up their oversight of a spreading grass that was engineered to resist an herbicide.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (http://bit.ly/2iRjoQK) Scotts Miracle-Gro is no longer planning to commercialize the grass and wants federal agriculture officials to deregulate it.

Scotts partnered with Monsanto to engineer the hard-to-kill grass. Scotts was fined $500,000 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for letting it spread.

Federal officials also made the company responsible for controlling the grass.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife found the grass puts endangered plant and animal species at risk.

Research by Oregon State University and the Environmental Protection Agency determined the herbicide resistance could pass onto other grasses.

The presence of genetic modifications can also block some international sales.

___

Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com