This just came from the Center for Food Safety:

> Dear all,
> Please comment to the USDA/APHIS on GE bentgrass with our below action
> alert. For more in-depth info, please check out the comments we submitted to the USDA this past March.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Ellen Kittredge
> Outreach Director
> Center for Food Safety
> 660 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 302
> Washington, DC 20003
> ph: (202) 547-9359
> fax: (202) 547-9429
> ellen@icta.org
>
>
>
>
> A Center for Food Safety Call for Action
>
> *** ACTION ALERT FOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2004 ***
>
TELL THE USDA/APHIS NOT TO APPROVE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CREEPING BENTGRASS!
>
> BACKGROUND
>
> Monsanto Company and The Scotts Company have been trying to get
> regulatory approval to release their genetically engineered (GE)
> Roundup Ready creeping bentgrass since 2002. If approved, the
> genetically engineered grass would be used on golf courses and lawns
> across the country.
>
> However, the Biotechnology Regulatory Service (BRS), an agency within
> the USDA/APHIS, has agreed to conduct the first ever environmental
> impact statement (EIS) on a genetically engineered crop. The agency is
> now seeking public comment on the scope of the proposed EIS for GE
> creeping bentgrass, and it is very important that they hear from you!
>
> Roundup Ready GE bentgrass is able to withstand sprayings of the
> popular herbicide Roundup. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of
> Land Management (BLM) oppose the approval of this GE grass because
> they would lose the ability to use Roundup, one of their best methods
> of weed control, to keep the GE bentgrass out of national forests and
> BLM lands.
>
> If released into the environment, GE bentgrass will almost certainly
> cross-pollinate and contaminate on a very wide scale. Bentgrass is
> wind-pollinated, has very light seeds, and can outcross with 12-14
> wild relatives.
>
> A recent study conducted in Oregon demonstrated that approval of this
> GE organism would virtually ensure contamination of wild relatives via
> GE pollen-flow. The study found that GE creeping bentgrass can
> cross-pollinate with related species as far away as 13 miles. For more
> information see the Center for Food Safety's press release on the recent contamination event.
>
>
>
> Please submit your comments today. (Sample comments below). The
> deadline for submission is October 25, 2004
>
> You may submit comments via any of the following methods:
>
> Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send four copies of your
> comment (an original and three copies) to Docket No. 03-101-2,
> Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700
> River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state that your
> comment refers to Docket No. 03-101-2.
>
> E-mail: Address your comment to regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Your
> comment must be contained in the body of your message; do not send
> attached files. Please include your name and address in your message
> and ``Docket No. 03-101-2'' on the subject line.
>
> Agency Web site: Go to http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/cominst.html
> for a form you can use to submit an e-mail comment through the APHIS
> Web site.
>
> * * * * * Sample Comments * * * * *
>
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> I am writing in regard to Docket No. 03-101-2, the Animal and Plant
> Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) intent to prepare an environmental
> impact statement (EIS) relative to its consideration of a petition
> received from Monsanto Company and The Scotts Company for a
> determination of nonregulated status for GE creeping bentgrass. It is
> critical that APHIS conduct an environmental impact statement on GE
> creeping bentgrass, as the release of this GE organism has unique
> potential to negatively impact the natural environment.
>
> I urge APHIS to consider the following points in preparation of its
> environmental impact statement. Creeping bentgrass is a perennial,
> wind-pollinated species that has potential to cross-pollinate with
> 12-14 wild relatives. No other commercialized genetically engineered
> organism is a perennial species with the potential to cross-pollinate
> with such a large number of wild relatives.
>
> A recent study conducted by the EPA found evidence of "multiple
> instances at numerous locations of long-distance viable pollen
> movement from multiple source fields of GM (genetically modified)
> creeping bentgrass." Additionally, the study found that the bentgrass
> had the potential to cross-pollinate with species up to 13 miles away.
>
> If approved for commercial release, genetically engineered
> bentgrass could be planted on more than 17,000 golf courses and
> millions of private lawns across the country. No other genetically
> engineered organism has been planted on small plots of public and
> private lands spread throughout the country. Up until now, genetically
> engineered organisms have been limited to farmland. Such widescale
> plantings virtually ensure contamination by GE bentgrass.
>
> Genetically engineered bentgrass has been opposed by both the U.S.
> Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), because it and
> related species can be serious weeds, and because they would lose the
> ability to use Roundup, one of their best methods of weed control, to
> keep the GE creeping bentgrass out of national forests and BLM lands.
>
> Thank you for your consideration of the above points in your upcoming
> environmental impact statement. I appreciate your commitment to
> conducting an EIS on this new genetically engineered organism that has
> such potential to negatively impact the natural environment.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Center for Food Safety works to protect human health and the
> environment by curbing the proliferation of harmful food production
> technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable
> agriculture. CFS engages in legal, scientific and grassroots
> initiatives to guide national and international policymaking on
> critical food safety issues.