Paul Voosen, “Agriculture: Courts Force U.S. Reckoning with Dominance of GM Crops,” Greenwire, October 8, 2009
In the first of a series of reports, this article discusses the sugar beet growers from Oregon’s Willamette Valley involved in litigation that has, to date, successfully challenged U.S. Department of Agriculture decisions to deregulate genetically modified (GM) sugar beets without conducting appropriate environmental impact assessments. Organic farmers risk the loss of their EU markets if their crops become contaminated with GM strains, and GM farmers have apparently been unwilling to flag the location of their fields, fearing ecoterrorism and burned crops. The standoff reportedly led to the litigation which was brought by the Center for Food Safety, whose executive director is quoted as saying, “Every farmer should have the right to grow non-GMO crops and not fear contamination. Farmers shouldn’t be out there in
constant fear that they’re going to be contaminated.”
The article notes that while Europeans have been resistant to GM crops, U.S. consumers are largely unaware that vast percentages of some crops are now bioengineered. According to Greenwire author Paul Voosen, “Partially, this is due to the federal organic standard. While the standard requires farmers to use conventional seeds, it is process-oriented and requires no testing for GM material in certified organic products.”
Voluntary standards are apparently being adopted by retailers such as Whole Foods Market Inc., but the thresholds for GM presence are (i) more lenient than European standards and (ii) difficult for growers to meet “because it is the nature of genes to flow. Cross-pollination between plants is a driver of evolution, and pollen can move large distances, aided by wind or buzzing bees. The buffer, or isolation, distance
needed between crops is poorly understood and variable.” Organic farmers in the United States are apparently calling for a system similar to one adopted in Europe that would place the financial burden of keeping GM and conventional crops effectively separate on the companies that develop and the farmers that use GM seeds.
