I would like to respond to last week’s letter to the editor “GMO-free county is laughable.”

I believe that a characterization of GMOs that includes selective breeding is wholly inaccurate. To characterize them thus is misrepresentation of the scientifically accepted definition of a GMO, which is fungible with a “Genetically Engineered Organism” (GEO).  GMOs and GEOs are organisms whose genetic material have been altered using genetic engineering techniques to create new gene sequences in vitro in the laboratory using gene splicing techniques.

There is no credible individual working in the field of genetically engineered organisms that would include selectively bred animals or plants in the category of  GMOs.

The recent GMO-free initiative petition in San Juan County (#2012-4) should not ban the growing or raising of hybrid animals and plants nor those that have been selectively bred. It should solely ban organisms that are genetically engineered in a laboratory setting using gene splicing techniques. These are the species that have patented gene sequences that are preventing farmers from raising their own seed in many areas of the United States.

The application of the GMO patent laws has effectively prevented any farmer from being able to grow their own seeds for an ever-growing number of food crops in the USA. This proposed GMO ban is the only way that we have available to us to stem the cross pollination of these gene sequences that make the propagation and ownership of a farmer’s personal seed stock illegal.

John Mottl

Orcas Island