The Associated Press printed a story yesterday entitled “Experts: Contamination from GM Alfalfa Certain.” In an earlier version of this article, OSA was misquoted as saying that farmers planting GE crops should pay for damages resulting from contamination. That is not our organization’s stance. We do not support pitting farmer against farmer. Instead, OSA believes strongly that patent holders — entities promoting and profiting from the technology — should be held liable for costs resulting from contamination, including compensating farmers for economic and agronomic costs of detecting and eradicating GE material; losing the genetic integrity of seed on which they rely; taking measures to avoid future contamination; and selling contaminated products into the conventional market, losing a premium for organically produced products.
