By Tiffany Revelle

Genetically engineered (GE) crops are prohibited in Lake County after a 3-2
vote by the Lake County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
Supervisors Rob Brown and Jeff Smith voted against the ban.

The vote came after three and a half hours of discussion. The board took
input on both sides of the issue from farmers, business owners and
representatives from the Lake County Farm Bureau, Lake County Agricultural
Department, Lake County Sierra Club, Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce
and California Certified Organic Farmers.

"This is not taking away anybody's rights. It's just to say if you want to
use GE crops, you need to have a good reason why," Chairman Ed Robey said.

The board took supervisor Anthony Farrington's suggestions that certain
items should be removed from the ordinance, including a jail term for
violators, a claim that GE crops bring premium price in the market and a
requirement that GE growers disclose their operations to the general public.
Farrington also proposed that the ordinance sunset after a year, but the
ordinance was adopted without a sunset. The ordinance allows the board to
grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Lake County Farm Bureau Executive Director Chuck March said the bureau stood
firm in its five-year opposition to a ban on the crops.

Genetic engineering means "the use of recombinant DNA techniques to
artificially introduce genetic material from another species to create a
genome that does not exist in nature," according to the ordinance the board
adopted.

"We believe the process for regulating the use of the crops is sufficiently
overseen by the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection
Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture. This is the most
heavily scrutinized food product in the world," March said.

Supervisors Robey, Farrington and Denise Rushing expressed concerns about
improper regulation at the state and federal levels and about the need for
more information about the use of biotechnology. Victoria Brandon of the
Lake County Sierra Club echoed their concerns.

"At the present time, there is not enough understanding of the dangers, and
it has not been proven safe to let (GE) organisms loose in the environment.
That would have consequences not only for agriculture but ecologically as
well," Brandon said.

March said the bureau had seen no proof that GE technology is unsafe.

"What you need to do is get out of our business," business owner Kenny
Parlet said. Pear shed owner Toni Scully called the ban "a real backwards
step for the development of agriculture, historically."

Brown said farmers should have the right to choose what crops to grow, and
said he trusts the industry to regulate itself.

Smith agreed with Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director
Melissa Fulton that a work group should be formed to further revise the
ordinance and come up with a compromise more appealing to people on both
sides of the issue.

www.checkbiotech.org