Tag Archives DMO

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published a notice inviting public comment on its draft environmental assessment for genetically engineered (GE) sugar beets. Comments must be submitted by December 6, 2010. APHIS conducted the assessment in response to a request that it partially deregulate GE sugar beets “to authorize the continued cultivation of the GE sugar beets subject to carefully tailored interim measures proposed by APHIS.” A federal court in California determined in August that APHIS had violated federal environmental laws by approving the crop’s deregulation without the preparation of an appropriate environmental assessment. More information about the court’s decision appears in Issue 361 of this Update. When USDA then began issuing permits to sugar beet seed producers to allow GE sugar beets to be planted in fall 2010, environmental groups and farmers challenged the action, and the court found…