The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has published a notice of its intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on genetically modified (GM) sugar beets. The agency had previously deregulated sugar beets genetically modified for glyphosate resistance without preparing an EIS and was ordered in September 2009 by a federal court in California to prepare one after its action was challenged by organic seed and nonprofit organizations. The court concluded that the environmental assessment which APHIS prepared failed to consider a number of environmental and related economic impacts of the GM crops. Thus, APHIS is planning to prepare an EIS and requests public comment by June 28, 2010, on the potential issues and reasonable alternatives it intends to include. Among those issues identified in the notice are data on production levels of organic and conventional sugar beets and other crops by region, state…
Tag Archives GMO
According to a news source, the Peruvian Superior Court has agreed to hear an appeal filed by a medical sciences biotechnologist convicted of defamation by a lower court for criticizing another scientist whose research allegedly showed that genetically modified (GM) maize had been illegally planted in a valley on the Peruvian coast. The researcher, Antonietta Gutierrez, apparently chose to seek redress through the courts when her work was questioned by Ernesto Bustamante, vice president of the Peruvian Association of Biologists, an undertaking that has drawn condemnation from the nation’s scientists. Claiming that “the verdict destroys the integrity of science,” they have urged other scientists to sign a declaration in support of Bustamante, claiming that the law explicitly exempts scientific critiques from defamation’s scope. See Crop Bulletin Update, May 20, 2010.
GeneWatch UK Director Helen Wallace has apparently resigned from a Food Standards Agency (FSA) steering committee dedicated to discussing genetically modified (GM) foods, after claiming that the group “is nothing more than a PR exercise on behalf of the GM industry.” Charged with managing a public dialogue on the potential risks and benefits of GM food, the external stakeholders on the committee currently include consumer advocates, trade association representatives, market and policy experts, and scientists. In her May 26, 2010, resignation letter, Wallace pointed to several Freedom of Information requests that allegedly revealed how the Agricultural Biotechnology Council and similar organizations influenced the dialogue agenda and other FSA activities. According to Wallace, the steering committee “was set up from the outset to provide free ‘reputation management’ to the GM industry at taxpayers’ expense.” She also accuses FSA of using the discussion to focus on “on a non-existent positive future where…
The European Union has reportedly allowed Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal located 500 kilometers from the African coast, to prohibit the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on the archipelago. According to The New York Times, the European Commission “quietly” let the deadline pass for opposing the GMO ban, which Portuguese officials claimed was necessary to preserve Madeira’s rare subtropical laurel forests, known as laurisilva. “[T]he case of Madeira represents a significant landmark, because it is the first time the commission… has permitted a country to impose such a sweeping and definitive rejection of the technology,” states the May 9, 2010, article. In issuing its decision, the European Commission apparently circumvented the European Food Safety Authority and signaled “the unofficial beginning of a new—and potentially highly contentious—policy that would give European nations and regions far greater freedom to decide when to ban such crops.” This policy seeks to grease…
A recent study has reportedly linked “dietary and genetic evidence for phosphate toxicity” to premature aging in genetically engineered (GE) mice. Mutsuko Ohnishi and M. Shawkat Razzaque, “Dietary and genetic evidence for phosphate toxicity accelerating mammalian aging,” FASEB Journal, April 2010. Researchers first used “an in vivo genetic approach to determine the role of phosphate toxicity in mammalian aging,” engineering mice that lacked the gene responsible for regulating phosphate levels. These mice had a short life span and showed “numerous physical, biochemical and morphological features consistent with premature aging.” The study authors then genetically reduced serum phosphate levels, which ameliorated the aging-like features in a second group of mice and led to prolonged survival. But when fed “a high-phosphate diet,” these GE animals again exhibited signs of accelerated aging. According to the abstract, these findings “clearly suggest[s] that phosphate toxicity is the main cause of premature aging” in mice. The study further…
Oral argument in litigation over whether the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) properly deregulated a genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa seed took place before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 27, 2010. Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475 (U.S.). The Ninth Circuit imposed a ban on use of the GE seed until the USDA completes an environmental impact statement that accounts for potential contamination of conventional alfalfa crops. While several justices questioned the appellate court’s authority to fully ban the product’s sale, Justice Antonin Scalia contended that GE crop planting “doesn’t even destroy the current plantings of non-genetically engineered alfalfa. This is not the end of the world. It really isn’t. The most it does is make it difficult for those farmers who want to cater to the European market, which will not accept genetically engineered alfalfa.” According to press reports, environmentalists and agribusiness, watching the case closely, filed…
A committee of European Union (EU) member state officials has reportedly decided to cease imposing U.S. rice import restrictions which had been in place since 2006 when genetically modified (GM) rice was found in conventional rice supplies. U.S. rice could be sold in the EU over the past four years only if certified as free from GM rice. Rice farmers in the United States have cited the EU restrictions in litigation against the company that manufactured the GM rice; the farmers have prevailed in several lawsuits, winning both compensatory and punitive damages for the precipitous drop in prices paid for their crops after the EU and Japan essentially closed their borders to all U.S. rice. According to a news source, the 2009 rice crop has been found to be free of LL Rice 601, and the EU has been assured that U.S. rice exporters will continue to test rice exported to…
A coalition of groups representing farmers, public health, environmental, and organic food interests has submitted a comment to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeking changes to the draft position on labeling genetically modified (GM) products that the U.S. Codex delegate plans to bring to the May 3-7, 2010, meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Labeling. The coalition calls for the U.S. delegate to support “a Codex document that simply states that countries can adopt different approaches to labeling of GM/GE foods, in line with existing Codex guidance.” According to the April 20 letter, the current U.S. position opposing that document “could potentially create significant problems for food producers in the US who wish to indicate that their products contain no GE ingredients, including on organic food, where genetic engineering is a prohibited method.” The signatories, including the Consumers Union, Union of Concerned…
The National Research Council (NRC) has published a report finding that U.S. farmers who grow genetically engineered (GE) crops “are realizing substantial economic and environmental benefits – such as lower production costs, fewer pest problems, reduced use of pesticides, and better yields – compared with conventional crops.” The report cautions, however, that farmers “need to adopt better management practices to ensure that beneficial environmental effects of GE crops continue,” according to an April 13, 2010, NRC press release. Billed as the “first comprehensive assessment of the effects of the GE crop revolution on farm-level sustainability in terms of environmental, economic and social impacts,” the report notes that GE crops constitute more than 80 percent of soybeans, corn and cotton grown in the United States. It ranks “improvements in water quality” as the top environmental benefit of GE crops, claiming that a reduction in insecticide and pesticide use has led to…
After less than two hours of deliberation, an Arkansas jury has reportedly awarded 12 rice farmers nearly $48 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the 2006 contamination of conventional rice stocks with a genetically modified (GM) strain. The farmers alleged that Europe and Japan stopped importing U.S. rice after the contamination became known, causing a precipitous drop in the price for their crops. Most of the award against Bayer CropScience was punitive; litigation against the company is pending in a number of other states. This jury verdict, reached on April 15, 2010, tops a $1 million award rendered against the company by another Alabama jury in March. Information about that verdict can be found in issue 341 of this Update. See Associated Press, April 15, 2010.
