GMW: U.S. Federal Court Rules Biopharm Permits Illegal

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GMW: U.S. Federal Court Rules Biopharm Permits Illegal

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Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:47:22 +0100

 

 

 

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Federal Court Rules Biopharm Permits Issued Illegally in Hawai'i

Ruling first ever on controversial drug-producing GE crops manufactured

by Monsanto and others

August 14 2006

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/006/federal-court-rules-hawaii-biopharm-p\

ermits-issued-illegally-in-Hawai-i.html

 

Honolulu, HI -- Citing possible harm to Hawai'i's 329 endangered and

threatened species, a federal district judge has ruled that the U.S.

Department of Agriculture (USDA) violated the Endangered Species Act

(ESA)

in permitting the cultivation of drug-producing, genetically engineered

crops throughout Hawai'i. The court found that USDA acted in " utter

disregard " of the ESA, and also violated the National Environmental

Policy

Act (NEPA), by failing to conduct even preliminary investigations prior

to its approval of the plantings.

 

The August 10 decision represents the first federal court ruling ever

on " biopharming, " the controversial practice of genetically altering

food crops to produce experimental drugs and industrial compounds.

Biopharming has provoked the ire of the food industry, public interest

groups,

and farmers concerned about contamination of foods and the environment

with potent drugs, and potential economic losses from adulterated food.

The four USDA-issued permits primarily at issue in the case authorized

Monsanto, ProdiGene, Garst Seed Company, and the Hawai'i Agriculture

Research Center to plant over 800 acres (1.25 square miles) of

drug-producing corn and sugarcane at various sites in Kaua'i, O'ahu,

Moloka'i,

and Maui from 2001 to 2003.

 

The plaintiffs in the case -- Center for Food Safety, Friends of the

Earth, Pesticide Action Network North America, and KAHEA (the

Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance) -- sued the USDA in November 2003.

Plaintiffs

were represented by Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety.

 

" This decision shows that regulatory oversight of this out-of-control

industry has been woefully inadequate. The agency entrusted with

protecting human health and the environment from the impacts of genetic

engineering experiments has been asleep at the wheel, " said Paul

Achitoff,

attorney with Earthjustice.

 

" The ruling is a clear victory for Hawai'i's environment, " said Joseph

Mendelson, Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety. " It will help

protect the islands from the illegal field-testing of genetically

engineered, drug-producing crops. "

 

Plaintiffs point to a scathing critique of USDA's regulation of

biopharm and other genetically altered crops issued by the agency's

Inspector

General in December 2005 as evidence that USDA continues to neglect its

regulatory duties. That report documented numerous violations,

including USDA's failure to record locations of field trial sites and

conduct

required inspections. In two instances, USDA regulators were unaware

that a total of more than two tons of harvested biopharm crop material

was

stored at uninspected facilities for over a year.

 

Hawai'i is the nation's leading state for plantings of experimental,

genetically engineered crops, having hosted more than 5,000 such tests

from 1987 through 2004, including several dozen biopharm crop trials.

Biopharm crops produce substances such as experimental vaccines, growth

hormones, blood-clotting and –thinning agents, antibodies, and industrial

enzymes. Two high-profile contamination incidents in 2002, in which

biopharm corn produced by ProdiGene contaminated soybeans and corn in

Nebraska and Iowa, provoked widespread criticism of the practice, which

nevertheless continues.

 

Plaintiffs have also challenged USDA's practice of concealing the

locations of trials from the public, and in most cases not disclosing the

substances being grown in the plants.

 

Judge J. Michael Seabright ordered the parties to appear in court on

August 22, 2006, to discuss remedies for the government's violations.

 

" We will not rest until the federal government prohibits the

irresponsible and hazardous field-testing of drug-producing, genetically

engineered crops, " said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center

for Food

Safety.

 

Read a copy of the court's ruling (pdf file)

http://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/hawaii-biopharm-order-81096.pdf

 

Read the USDA Inspector General's report (pdf file)

http://www.thecampaign.org/USDA_IG_1205.pdf

 

More background on biopharming

http://www.foe.org/camps/comm/safefood/biopharm/index.html

 

Contact:

Paul Achitoff, Earthjustice, (808) 599-2436 x12

Bill Freese, Center for Food Safety, (202) 547-9359 x14

 

[image caption: Inside a genetic engineering laboratory / Photo by

University of Michigan]

 

 

 

 

 

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