Federal Court Finds APHIS Error in Deregulating GE Sugar Beets
A federal court in California has determined that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) erred when it deregulated a genetically engineered (GE) sugar beet without preparing an environmental impact statement. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, No. 08-00484 (N.D. Cal., decided September 21, 2009). Thus, the court granted the motion for summary judgment filed by the Center for Food Safety and other environmental interest groups and scheduled a hearing for October 30, 2009, to decide what remedies will be appropriate.
A court in the same federal district ruled in 2007 that APHIS erred in deregulating GE alfalfa, and this court based its ruling on that decision, which resulted in an effective halt to the use of GE alfalfa. According to the court, which discussed at length how sugar beets are grown and how cross-pollination can occur with non-GE sugar beets and related Swiss chard and table beet crops, environmental effects can be significant in the context of a deregulation determination. The court was particularly concerned about the potential for GE sugar beets to eliminate farmers’ choice to grow non-GE crops or consumers’ choice to eat non-GE foods. The court concluded that APHIS failed to take the “hard look” that the National Environmental Policy Act requires before deregulating GE sugar beets.
The Center for Food Safety’s executive director was quoted as saying, “We expect the same result here as we got in alfalfa. [The court] will halt almost any further planting and sale because it’s no longer an approved crop.” Industry interests sought to intervene, but were rebuffed during the litigation’s first phase. The court may allow them to participate when it considers the issue of remedies. According to a spokesperson for the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, “We’re going to use that opportunity to advocate the need for that technology and vigorously defend our growers’ freedom to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets.”
Some 10,000 farmers reportedly grow about 1.1 million acres of sugar beets in the United States, and industry surveys have estimated that 95 percent of the sugar beets planted in 2009 were genetically modified. See The New York Times, September 23, 2009.
