Breaking News: Monsanto Takes Center for Food Safety Legal Victory to Highest Co

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THE TRUE FOOD NETWORK

 

A project of the Center for Food Safety

 

 

Breaking News: Monsanto Takes Center for Food Safety Legal Victory to

Highest Court

 

 

(January 15, 2010) Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a

first-time case about the risks of genetically engineered crops. Named

Monsanto

v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the case before the high court will be

yet another step in an ongoing battle waged by the Center for Food Safety to

protect consumers and the environment from potentially harmful effects of

genetically engineered (GE) crops.

 

 

The modified alfalfa seed at the heart of the dispute has been engineered

to be immune to Monsanto’s flagship herbicide Roundup. Monsanto intervened

in a 2007 federal district court ruling that the Department of Agriculture’

s approval of GE alfalfa was illegal. The Center for Food Safety (CFS)

filed a 2006 lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of non-profits and farmers who

wished to retain the choice to plant non-GE alfalfa. CFS was victorious in

this case – in addition CFS has won two appeals by Monsanto in the Court of

Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: in 2008 and again in 2009. Now, upon Monsanto

’s insistence, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

 

 

“This is truly a ‘David versus Goliath’ struggle, between public interest

non-profits and a corporation bent on nothing less than domination of our

food system,†said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for

Food Safety. “That Monsanto has pushed this case all the way to the Supreme

Court, even though USDA’s court-ordered analysis is now complete, and the

U.S. government actively opposed further litigation in this matter,

underscores the great lengths that Monsanto will go to further its mission of

patent

control of our food system and selling more pesticides.â€

 

 

The federal district court required the Department of Agriculture to

undertake an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) assessing the impacts of the

crop on the environment and on farmers; the first time the U.S. government

had ever undertaken such analysis for any GE crop. The court permitted

farmers that had already planted to continue, but halted any further planting

pending the agency’s re-assessment. That the EIS was required is not in

dispute; the legal issue is only the scope of relief while USDA analyzed the

impacts of the crop for the first time.

 

 

In October 2009 Monsanto asked the Supreme Court to hear further

arguments. In response, the Center and the U.S. government separately opposed

that

request the following December. USDA completed the first draft of the EIS

in December 2009.

 

 

“Although we believe a further hearing is unnecessary, we are confident we

will again prevail, as the lower courts have already three times

determined,†continued Kimbrell. “We hope that this grand stage will

further inform

the public, policymakers and the media about the significant risks of

genetically engineered crops and the vital need to protect farmers and the

environment.â€

 

 

Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S. and a key source

of dairy forage. It is the first perennial crop to be genetically

engineered. It is open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at

distances

of several miles, spreading the patented, foreign DNA to conventional and

organic crops. Such biological contamination threatens the livelihood of

organic farmers and dairies, since the U.S. Organic standard prohibits genetic

engineering, and alfalfa exporters, since most overseas governments also

reject GE-contaminated crops.

 

 

“We trust the Supreme Court will uphold farmers right to choose their crop

of choice and protect us from the constant fear of contamination from GE

crops,†said Phil Geertson, an alfalfa farmer based in Idaho.

 

 

Related:

 

A 2009 _study_

(http://truefoodnow.org/2009/11/17/new-report-reveals-dramatic-rise-in-pesticide\

-use-on-genetically-engineered-ge-crops-due-to-the-spread

-of-resistant-weeds/) showed that the use of genetically modified crops,

the vast majority Monsanto’s “roundup ready†crops, has caused over the

last 13 years a dramatic increase in herbicide use, by 383 million pounds,

and concomitant harms to the environment and human health.

 

 

The U.S. Department of Justice has undertaken an _investigation_

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/08/business/main5372772.shtml) of

Monsanto

regarding violations of anti-trust and monopoly laws and is set to hold

public hearings in spring 2010.

 

 

Another 2009 _study_

(http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/science/failure-\

to-yield.html) showed that, despite decades of

promises and hype, GE crops do not increase yields.