Biotech sabotage hits Oregon 

The Anarchist Golfing Association causes between $300,000 and $500,000 damage to a grass research facility

Bryan Denson / The Oregonian 6jun00

The group claimed in an anonymous e-mail to The Oregonian that it broke into two greenhouses owned by Pure-Seed Testing late Sunday, overturning and stomping on experimental grass plots, scattering identification tags and spray-painting such slogans as "Nature Bites Back."

The saboteurs left unorthodox calling cards: golf balls embossed with circle-A anarchist symbols.

Biotech saboteurs have struck experimental trees and food crops more than 20 times in North America since last July, mostly in California, including the arson of the landmark Agriculture Hall at Michigan State University. They have set back research by universities and high-tech agriculture companies in an effort to draw attention to genetic engineering, a science they say is potentially harmful to the planet.

Until Sunday, the saboteurs had skipped Oregon, where hundreds of researchers are studying the genetic modification of plants and other organisms.

Pure-Seed officials confirmed the sabotage and estimated damage at between $300,000 and $500,000. The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office had no suspects Monday and called in the FBI.

The saboteurs targeted Pure-Seed partly because the company is experimenting with a grass used on putting greens -- creeping bentgrass -- that has been genetically modified to resist the herbicide Glufosinate, according to the Anarchist Golfing Association's communique.

"The biotech industry usually hides behind the racist aura of 'feeding the Third World,' but as you can see, it is quite obvious that these crops are grown for profit and the pleasure of the rich and have no social value," the group wrote.

"Grass, like industrial culture, is invasive and permeates every aspect of our lives," the note continued. "While the golf trade journals claim that 'golf courses provide suitable habitat for wildlife,' we see them as a destroyer of all things wild."

Pure-Seed president Bill L. Rose condemned the vandalism. Rose said his company will have to swallow the damages because insurance only covered seed and seed stock, not experimental plants. The sabotage destroyed five to 10 years of work.

"Put a value on that one," Rose said.

The saboteurs probably used computer research to target Pure-Seed, Rose said. The company's federal permit for the creeping bentgrass experiment can be found on the Internet, he said.

Rose also received a claim of responsibility from the Anarchist Golfing Association and mailed an electronic response.

"Our company is a family-owned operation, dedicated to improving grass varieties for turf, forage, erosion control and betterment of the world," Rose wrote. "There are no GMO (genetically modified organism) varieties being developed by our company. We are only doing research to properly assess the dangers and precautionary measures that must take place before any GMO grass varieties are produced in the Willamette Valley."

Rose invited the saboteurs to a meeting so he could "set the record straight on what is good and what is bad, and of course, we will be attempting to direct your great energies in a constructive manner." Rose later told The Oregonian he would be willing to give the saboteurs whatever immunity he could to have a constructive talk about their complaints.

The saboteurs did not immediately reply to Rose's e-mail.

The vandals crept onto Rose's 110-acre research farm between 9:30 p.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday, according to police. They cut holes in the plastic roofs of two greenhouses, dumped 200 pots of ornamental grasses collected from around the world, destroyed the genetically modified grass experiment and then entered nurseries, where they pulled up or cut off the heads of hundreds of experimental grass plants, according to Crystal Fricker, director of research.

"I think it's ironic they killed so many plants that are naturally bred to be so environmentally friendly," Fricker said. "Our whole goal is to develop varieties that require less input (of pesticides and other chemicals) and that can better serve people around the world. And I think the key to solving the issues they're raising is not destruction, but rather communication, education and research like we were doing to see if these plants are indeed dangerous."

The company plans to upgrade security. "We're putting in surveillance cameras and a night guard, and the neighbors have pledged to watch for any unusual cars going by," Rose said.

Partial List of Turfgrass and Ornamental Research Support

• AgrEvo USA Co.
• American Cyanamid
• Bayer Chemical Corporation
• Deere & Company
• Dow AgroSciences
• Ecogen
• Fermenta Plant Protection
• Golf Course Supt. Assoc. Of America
• The Greenkeeper Company Inc.
• Holmes Park Golf Course
• Jacobsen/Textron
• John Deere Turf Care Inc.
• Lesco
• Midwest Turf and Irrigation
• Monsanto
• Nebraska Nursery and Landscape Association (NNLA)
• NE Golf Course Supt. Association (NGCSA)
• NE Professional Lawn Care Assoc. (NPLCA)
• NE Turfgrass Foundation (NTF)
• Novartis
• Organix Supply
• Oregon State University
• Pioneers Golf Course
• Reams Sprinkler and Supply
• Rohm and Haas Co.
• Rhone Poulenc Inc.
• St. Gabriel Laboratories
• The Scotts Company
• The Toro Company
• Troy Biosciences
• Turf-Seed & Pure-Seed Testing Inc.
• United States Golf Association
• United States Department of Agriculture
• University of Nebraska Agricultural Research and Development Center (ARDC)
• University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Valent
• Willamette Seed & Grain
• Zajac Performance Seeds
• Zeneca Inc.