Organic Seed Companies Seek GE Classification for F1 Hybrid Seeds

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The Organic Consumers Association has launched a consumer campaign to ban cell fusion mutagenesis in the USDA's National Organic Program standards.

Reposted with permission from Food Safety News.

It is spring planting time for farms, and, if hybrid seeds are being planted, chances are some might be genetically engineered (GE) and technically genetically modified organisms (GMOs), according to a growing movement in organic agriculture.

High Mowing Organic Seeds, an organic seed company based in Wolcott, VT, bans the sale of hybrid seeds produced by a commonly used industry method called cell fusion to manipulate plant DNA — because the seeds are viewed as GMOs.

“We do not support or sell cisgenic (within the same plant family) CMS cell fusion seeds as we believe the process is the same as GMO,” says Tom Furber, general manager of the company.

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