The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision enjoining the sale and planting of genetically modified (GM) alfalfa seed until the government completes an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the crop’s proposed delisting. Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475 (U.S., certiorari granted January 15, 2010) (Breyer, J., not participating). The parties’ briefs must be filed in February and March 2010. The questions before the Court are (i) “Did the Ninth Circuit err in holding that NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] plaintiffs are specially exempt from the requirement of showing a likelihood of irreparable harm to obtain an injunction?”; (ii) “Did the Ninth Circuit err in holding that a district court may enter an injunction sought to remedy a NEPA violation without conducting an evidentiary hearing sought by a party to resolve genuinely disputed facts directly relevant to the…
Tag Archives GMO
Shook, Hardy & Bacon Of Counsel Jim Andreasen has co-authored an article providing an update on the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI’s) draft national standard for sustainable agriculture. The article appears in the January 2010 issue of the American Bar Association’s (ABA’s) Agricultural Management Committee Newsletter. This committee is part of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. The article outlines the draft standard’s development to date and the potential impact it could have once finalized. According to the article, the draft “as initially proposed would promote a non-GMO [genetically modified organism], organic, and fair trade (i.e., fair labor) standard for agriculture that exceeds nearly all existing organic and nonorganic practices in U.S. agriculture.” The draft has undergone a number of changes, including a narrowing of its scope, since its introduction, and the committee working to develop it has expanded to include some industry interests. The article also discusses…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has published its notice about the availability of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for genetically modified (GM) alfalfa. The agency was required to prepare the EIS by a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling finding that APHIS violated the National Environmental Protection Act by failing to do so in connection with its determination that the crop could be deregulated. Comments must be submitted by February 16, 2010, and public meetings will be held on January 19 in Las Vegas; February 3 in Kearney, Nebraska; February 4 in Lincoln, Nebraska; and February 9 in Riverdale, Maryland. See Federal Register, January 12, 2010. Meanwhile, Food & Water Watch, a consumer advocacy organization, is calling on supporters to take action on the EIS by telling the USDA “loud and clear that consumers want foods that are free from genetic…
French researchers with the Committee of Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN), the University of Rouen and the University of Caen have published a paper allegedly linking genetically modified (GM) corn varieties to “new side effects” in mammals. Joël Spiroux de Vendômois, et al., “A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health,” International Journal of Biological Science, December 2009. “[A] comparative analysis of blood and organ system data” from industry-sponsored studies, the paper claims that GM corn-fed rats exhibited “sex- and often dose-dependent” side effects “mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs,” as well as the “heart, adrenal glands, spleen and hematopoietic system.” The authors concluded that “these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn,” adding that “unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.” See…
In the fifth and final installment of a series about genetically modified (GM) crops, energy and environmental writer Paul Voosen discusses the growing ranks of organic proponents who have begun to embrace GM crops to achieve “sustainable agricultures that can feed the world.” Voosen describes a plant scientist who manipulates rice in the lab and is married to an organic farmer. Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak apparently co-authored a book, recently released in paperback, titled Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food.” They contend that current and future generations of GM crops, responsibly managed, would provide for the world’s hungry from lands already degraded. According to Voosen, their work has inspired others, such as Steward Brand, the passionate environmentalist who founded the Whole Earth Catalog and is now apparently “full-throated in his defense of GM crops.” Brand is quoted as saying, “I daresay the environmental movement has…
The Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC) is praising a recent policy statement issued by the American Public Health Association’s Governing Council, opposing the continued sale and use of genetically engineered hormonal rBGH milk and meat adulterated with sex hormones. CPC is a Chicago-based, non-profit, public-health advocacy organization. Samuel Epstein, CPC chair and professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, claims recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone is injected into about 20 percent of U.S. dairy cows to increase milk production. “While industry claims that the hormone is safe for cows, and the milk is safe for consumers, this is blatantly false,” Epstein wrote on December 23, 2009. He also claims that “beef produced in the United States is heavily contaminated with natural or synthetic sex hormones, which are associated with an increased risk of reproductive and childhood cancers.”
In a development that could have a significant impact on the global food industry, the U.K.’s House of Lords has completed an inquiry into the use of nanotechnology in foods, food packaging and food contact materials. In a January 8, 2010, press release and comprehensive report accompanied by a separate volume of evidence, the Lords’ Science and Technology Committee criticizes the food industry for “not publishing or discussing details of its research in this area.” The committee calls for the government “to adequately fund research into potential health and safety risks arising from the use of nanomaterials in the food sector” and recommends that the Food Standards Agency “contribute to consumer confidence in the use of nanomaterials in food by maintaining a publicly available register of food and food packaging containing nanomaterials.” Noting the unavailability to border and port authorities of “tests to check whether imported food contains nanomaterials,” the committee…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), responding to a directive issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. The agency has preliminarily determined that granting GE alfalfa nonregulated status will have “no significant impact on the human environment.” The draft, which runs more than 1,400 pages, will be available for a 60-day public comment period once it is published in the Federal Register. The agency will conduct four public meetings on the proposed EIS; they will take place in January and February 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada; Kearney, Nebraska; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Washington, D.C. The GE crop at issue is referred to as Roundup Ready® alfalfa, engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate. The Ninth Circuit enjoined Monsanto from selling the GE seed and farmers from planting it until APHIS…
According to a news source, a federal jury has awarded conventional rice farmers about $2 million in compensatory damages for the economic losses they allegedly experienced when European markets closed to U.S. rice imports that were found to be contaminated with genetically modified (GM) rice. In re: Genetically Modified Rice Litig., MDL No. 1811 (E.D. Mo., verdict reached December 4, 2009). The verdict was reached in the first bellwether cases to be tried. The next bellwether trial is apparently scheduled to begin in January and involves farmers from Arkansas and Mississippi. Defendant Bayer AG apparently indicated that it was pleased the jury did not award punitive damages and was preparing for the upcoming trials, which “will be different from these initial cases.” See Product Liability Law 360, December 4, 2009. In a related development, the MDL court has entered an order disposing of pre-trial motions related to the second bellwether trial. Among…
The Organic Center, Union for Concerned Scientists and Center for Food Safety have issued a report claiming that U.S. Department of Agriculture data show that the use of weed-killing herbicides on genetically engineered (GE) corn, soybeans and cotton has increased by 383 pounds over a 13-year period ending in 2008. According to the preface to the report, titled “Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use: The First Thirteen Years,” this finding will be “news to the public at large, which still harbors the illusion, fed by misleading industry claims and advertising, that biotechnology crops are reducing pesticide use. Such a claim was valid for the first few years of commercial use of GE corn, soybeans, and cotton. But, as this report shows, it is no longer.” The report contends that widespread adoption of glyphosate-resistant crops “has vastly increased the use of glyphosate herbicide,” which “has spawned a growing epidemic…
