Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Mike Edmonds <mike@mlxvi.org>]

Has anyone posted this yet?
http://www.progress.org/2007/gene115.htm

Judge Declares GM Crop Illegal

FEDERAL COURT ORDERS FIRST-EVER HALT TO PLANTING OF A COMMERCIALIZED GENETICALLY-ALTERED CROP

Judge Orders Complete Environmental Review of Monsanto’s Gene-Altered Alfalfa

A Federal judge on May 4 made a final ruling that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) 2005 approval of Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) “Roundup Ready” alfalfa was illegal. The Judge called on USDA to ban any further planting of the GE seed until it conducts a complete Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the GE crop.

In the decision, Judge Charles Breyer in the Federal Northern District of California affirmed his preliminary ruling, which echoed the Center for Food Safety’s arguments in their lawsuit against USDA, that the crop could harm the environment and contaminate natural alfalfa. This ruling also requires Forage Genetics to provide the locations of all existing Roundup Ready alfalfa plots to USDA within 30 days. The Judge ordered USDA to make the location of these plots “publicly available as soon as practicable” so that growers of organic and conventional alfalfa “can test their own crops to determine if there has been contamination.”

“This permanent halt to the planting of this risky crop is a great victory for the environment,” said Will Rostov, a Senior Attorney for CFS. “Roundup Ready alfalfa poses threats to farmers, to our export markets, and to the environment. We expect the USDA to abide by the law and insure that American farmers are protected from genetic contamination.”

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