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Judge Overturns Approval for Roundup Ready Beets
Judge Overturns Approval for Roundup Ready Beets
Author: Jeff Barnard, AP Environmental Writer Source September 22, 2009
GRANTS PASS, Oregon (AP) -- A federal judge overturned government approval of a variety of sugar
beet genetically engineered to resist a popular weed killer produced by agricultural giant Monsanto,
according to a ruling released Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco found the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service violated environmental law by failing to take a "hard look" at whether
"Roundup Ready" sugar beets would eventually share their genes with other crops.
Noting that pollen from genetically altered sugar beets could be blown by the wind long distances to
related crops, such as chard and table beets, the judge ordered the agency to produce an
environmental impact statement examining the issue.
"The potential elimination of farmers' choice to grow nongenetically engineered crops, or consumers'
choice to eat nongenetically engineered food ... has a significant effect on the human environment,"
White wrote.
The plant inspection agency is reviewing the ruling, said spokeswoman Suzanne Bond.
A lesser level of review, known as an environmental assessment, found no significant impact from
introducing a ground bacteria gene tolerant of the herbicide into the sugar beet genome, noting that if
pollen spread the genes to wild beets, they were considered a weed, and no cause for concern.
The ruling was a second blow for St. Louis-based Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops. While soy beans,
corn, cotton, and canola genetically engineered to withstand the company's popular weed-killer have
been in wide commercial production for years, a similar ruling in 2007 forced a ban on planting Roundup
Ready alfalfa until a re-examination was done. That environmental impact statement is not yet done.
It was not immediately clear what impact the ruling would have on the U.S. sugar crop, about half of which
comes from Roundup Ready sugar beets. The judge did not address the harvest of the current crop.
Roundup Ready beet seed saves growers on labor, fuel costs and equipment wear.
But the organic farmers, food safety advocates and conservation groups that brought the lawsuit will ask
the judge Oct. 30 for an injunction banning new plantings until the re-examination is done, said
Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff.
American Sugar Beet Growers Association spokesman Luther Markwart said he did not know how much
nongenetically altered seed was available if the judge grants the ban.
"Clearly we are going to vigorously defend our farmers' freedom to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets,"
Markwart said. "All this has to do with how we make our case."
Most of the seed is produced in Oregon's Willamette Valley, but the crop is grown on 1.1 million acres in
11 U.S. states, Markwart said.
Author: Jeff Barnard, AP Environmental Writer Source September 22, 2009
GRANTS PASS, Oregon (AP) -- A federal judge overturned government approval of a variety of sugar
beet genetically engineered to resist a popular weed killer produced by agricultural giant Monsanto,
according to a ruling released Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco found the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service violated environmental law by failing to take a "hard look" at whether
"Roundup Ready" sugar beets would eventually share their genes with other crops.
Noting that pollen from genetically altered sugar beets could be blown by the wind long distances to
related crops, such as chard and table beets, the judge ordered the agency to produce an
environmental impact statement examining the issue.
"The potential elimination of farmers' choice to grow nongenetically engineered crops, or consumers'
choice to eat nongenetically engineered food ... has a significant effect on the human environment,"
White wrote.
The plant inspection agency is reviewing the ruling, said spokeswoman Suzanne Bond.
A lesser level of review, known as an environmental assessment, found no significant impact from
introducing a ground bacteria gene tolerant of the herbicide into the sugar beet genome, noting that if
pollen spread the genes to wild beets, they were considered a weed, and no cause for concern.
The ruling was a second blow for St. Louis-based Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops. While soy beans,
corn, cotton, and canola genetically engineered to withstand the company's popular weed-killer have
been in wide commercial production for years, a similar ruling in 2007 forced a ban on planting Roundup
Ready alfalfa until a re-examination was done. That environmental impact statement is not yet done.
It was not immediately clear what impact the ruling would have on the U.S. sugar crop, about half of which
comes from Roundup Ready sugar beets. The judge did not address the harvest of the current crop.
Roundup Ready beet seed saves growers on labor, fuel costs and equipment wear.
But the organic farmers, food safety advocates and conservation groups that brought the lawsuit will ask
the judge Oct. 30 for an injunction banning new plantings until the re-examination is done, said
Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff.
American Sugar Beet Growers Association spokesman Luther Markwart said he did not know how much
nongenetically altered seed was available if the judge grants the ban.
"Clearly we are going to vigorously defend our farmers' freedom to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets,"
Markwart said. "All this has to do with how we make our case."
Most of the seed is produced in Oregon's Willamette Valley, but the crop is grown on 1.1 million acres in
11 U.S. states, Markwart said.