KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the destruction of plantings of genetically modified sugar beets developed by Monsanto Co after ruling previously the U.S. Agriculture Department illegally approved the biotech crop.
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White in August banned the planting and sales of Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” biotech sugar beets after determining that their approval in 2005 by the USDA was illegal. He said the government must conduct a thorough environmental review before approving the crop to comply with the law.
But shortly after the ruling, the USDA issued permits allowing companies to plant seedlings to produce seed for future GMO sugar beet crops.
In his ruling Tuesday Judge White said those seedlings “shall be removed from the ground.”
Earthjustice, a consumer group that brought the case against the USDA and had asked the judge to order the young plants be destroyed, said the action was the first court-ordered destruction of a GMO crop.
“We had to run into court and ask the judge to stop them,” said Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff. “He said you’ve got to tear up the plants, which was what we asked him to do. It’s an extreme sort of a thing … but the circumstances were such that there really wasn’t any alternative. They basically had dared the court to stop them.”
Sugar beets account for more than half of the nation’s sugar supply, and Monsanto’s Roundup Ready beets have been popular with farmers as they have been genetically altered to withstand sprayings of the chemical herbicide Roundup, making weed management easier for producers.
But environmentalists say widespread use of the crop leads to increased use of herbicides, proliferation of herbicide resistant weeds, and contamination of conventional and organic crops.
Monsanto, which owns intellectual property rights to the sugar beet technology, sought to intervene in the case, and was granted limited standing. But the company had no immediate comment on Tuesday.
In previous court filings Monsanto said revoking the government’s approval of its genetically modified seed could cost the company and its customers some $2 billion in 2011 and 2012.
Along with Monsanto, others in the industry sought to intervene, saying they needed at least limited planting permits for research and development, basic seed production and to preserve the ability to create genetically engineered commercial seed varieties to meet potential future demand if production is ultimately authorized.
USDA officials could not be reached for comment.
Earlier this month, the USDA issued a draft proposal for handling of the GMO beets. It said it was considering allowing Monsanto beets back in the fields by next year under a permit subject to conditions “to prevent any potential plant pest risks.”
The USDA gave the green light to Monsanto’s GMO beets in 2005.
Plaintiffs in the case include the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds and the Sierra Club.
(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Missouri | Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:27pm EST
Source: Reuters
GM food alters your DNA, changes your brain waves, destroys your immune system, your organs and makes you infertile.
Related information:
– Monsanto, Syngenta, BASF And Others Working On GM Wheat
– Scientists working to create genetically modified chocolate – to make you healthy (Sure!)
– MIT Scientists Develop GMO Plant That Produces Pharmaceutical Drugs
– USDA Plans To Allow GM Sugar Beet Planting During Lawsuit
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– Scientist Leading Taxpayer-Funded GM Crop Test Defends Links To US Biotech Giant Monsanto
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– Study: Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Human Cells (Flashback)
– GMO Alert: US Attempting Global Censorship of GMO Food Labeling
– California Files Legal Brief Opposing Monsanto in US Supreme Court
– Russian Scientists Prove Genetically Modified Foods are Harmful, Suggest Ban on GM Foods
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– Monsanto: GM-Corn Harvest of 82,000 Hectares in South Africa Fails (!)
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– Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Seed Patents May Trump Antitrust Claims
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– Monsanto GM Corn Causing Organ Failure In Rats: Study (Everything You Need To Know)
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– Hawaii: GMO taro ban proposal goes to full council
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– US Association of Physicians calls for Moratorium on GMO Foods
– Monsanto sues Germany over GM corn ban
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– Greenpeace: No need for condoms – GE corn can do the job
– BIODIVERSITY: Privatisation Making Seeds Themselves Infertile
– At stake is no less than control of the world’s food supply.
– Exposed: the great GM crops myth:
“Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.”
Highly recommended videos:
– Life running out of control – Genetically Modified Organisms (!)
– The World According to Monsanto – A documentary that Americans won’t ever see. (!)
Obama and Monsanto:
– Obama Gives ‘Pesticide Lobbyist’ Post as Chief Agricultural Negotiator
– Monsanto lobbyists to be placed in charge of food safety by Obama
On CODEX and the agenda of the elite:
– Dr. Rima E. Laibow: The Globalist Depopulation Agenda
– Dr. Rima E. Laibow on Codex Alimentarius and Food Nazification (!)
– Dr. Rima E. Laibow on the Contamination of the Food Supply & Deadly Antibiotics
– Codex Alimentarius: Population Control Under the Guise of Consumer Protection
– One Nation Under Siege – Full Theatrical Release
– Nutricide – Criminalizing Natural Health, Vitamins, and Herbs