Only one problem: The grass here was NOT genetically modified grass at all. Tifton 85 is just a simple old-fashioned hybrid, i.e. a simple cross between an African Bermuda grass and Tifton 68, another hybrid grass first produced in Tifton, Georgia.
Another small problem is that grass-based arsenic-poisoning is not new or uncommon. In fact, in dry areas under poor grazing management, grass-based cyanide poisoning is pretty common, as the Merck Veterinary manual makes clear.
Most grass contains cyanide, and cyanide and selenium poisoning in grass-fed cattle occurs all the time. Selenium buildup is generally due to bad soil, but cyanide-poisoning in grass-fed cattle is generally due to improper grazing on dry soil or on low-cut grass that has a low-water content.
So what should the headline have been? Here are two options:
New York-based reporter that has never seen a live cow fails at basic reporting and researchor
A bad rancher with poorly-managed fields manages to poison his cattle through a combination of ignorance, sloth and greed.
2 comments:
I think the only GMO forage permitted in the US is alfalfa, which only came on the market last year.
I heard about this article second hand, and was wondering about its veracity as there is probably no profit motive to bioengineer common grasses at this time.
Another example of the $12/hr reporter thats now taught sensational reporting sells (facts be damned) and the receptive "I'll believe anything I read" public.
Post a Comment