From The Medford Mail Tribune:
Following are the key findings on Measure 15-119 — which would ban genetically modified crops in Jackson County — from a Citizens Initiative Review panel moderated by Healthy Democracy Oregon.
- 15-119 prohibits growing of genetically engineered crops in Jackson County. It protects family farmers from serious risk that their crops will be contaminated by genetically engineered crop pollen that is patented and controlled by large out-of-state chemical corporations.
- It is a violation of federal patent law for any farmer to save and plant or sell a seed that was produced from genetically engineered pollen, even if that pollen drifts onto the farmer’s field. This undermines a farmer’s ability to save seeds to use for the next year’s crops or sell the seeds on the lucrative commercial seed market.