|
Truthout...
Farmers Sue USDA Over
Monsanto Alfalfa - Again
Friday 25 March 2011
by Mike Ludwig
A coalition of farmers and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against
the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on March 18 to challenge the
agency’s recent decision to fully deregulate Monsanto’s Roundup Ready
alfalfa.
This is the second time the USDA has been sued over its approval of
Roundup Ready alfalfa, which is genetically engineered (GE) to tolerate
glyphosate, a popular herbicide commonly sold under the Monsanto brand
name Roundup. The latest lawsuit, filed by groups like the Center for
Food Safety (CFS) and the National Family Farm Coalition, opens a new
chapter in the five-year battle over the GE alfalfa seed developed by
Monsanto and Forage Genetics.
Industry watchdogs and farmers say that Roundup Ready alfalfa will
increase reliance on already overused herbicides like Roundup,
encourage the spread of herbicide-resistant “superweeds” and
contaminate organic and conventional alfalfa with Monsanto transgenes
through cross-pollination.
About 93 percent of the alfalfa planted in the US is grown without
herbicides, but up to 23 million more pounds of herbicide could be
sprayed annually following the introduction of Roundup Ready alfalfa
into America’s fields, according to USDA estimates.
Alfalfa is not just grown for human consumption. Alfalfa seed and hay
feed dairy cows and other livestock, and the growing organic food
industry is concerned that cross-contamination of transgenes could
threaten the production of organic meat and milk. The USDA, however,
recently concluded that Roundup Ready alfalfa does not pose a
significant “plant pest risk” despite evidence that transgenes from the
alfalfa have contaminated conventional alfalfa in the past.
The USDA first deregulated Roundup Ready alfalfa in 2005. Internal
emails recently obtained by Truthout show that Monsanto worked closely
with regulators to edit its original petition to deregulate the
alfalfa. One regulator accepted Monsanto’s help in conducting the
USDA’s original environmental assessment of the alfalfa.
Farmers and biotech opponents soon filed a lawsuit against the USDA to
challenge the initial deregulation. In 2007, a federal court ruled that
the USDA did not consider the full environmental impacts of Roundup
Ready alfalfa and vacated the agency’s decision to deregulate the
alfalfa. Monsanto and its allies appealed the decision, and last year,
the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling, but ordered the
USDA to produce an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the alfalfa
before allowing it back into America’s fields.
Read the rest of the story at Truthout
|
|
|
|
