Your article “Low-mow grass: Biotech blessing or curse?” (Page 1, April 21), on the development of grass varieties using biotechnology, raises unnecessary fears. Existing varieties of creeping bentgrass do not behave like problem weeds, and extensive trials have shown that new herbicide-tolerant varieties, modified to have specific tolerance of one type of herbicide, will not either.
Tests have confirmed that new varieties of bentgrass can be controlled in the same way as traditional varieties, using a different herbicide from the one to which they are tolerant. They do not cross pollinate with other grasses any more than grass varieties have always done in nature, and the consequences of such crosses can be managed with normal turf-management practices.
Most golfers are passionate about their game and golf courses require intensive management to provide the best conditions. Herbicide tolerance is a proven plant breeding innovation that has been used on millions of acres of farm crops for close to a decade. We have an opportunity to use this technology to improve golf-course management by reducing artificial inputs.
