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  • From: <fdnokes@hotmail.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>, <bdnow@yahoogroups.com>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Fw: [cban e-News] GE Alfalfa: Updates and New Immediate Actions!
  • Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 15:03:01 -0800




From: Lucy Sharratt - CBAN Coordinator
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 9:47 AM
To: cban-e-news@cban.ca
Subject: [cban e-News] GE Alfalfa: Updates and New Immediate Actions!


Updates and New Actions on GE Alfalfa: Over 200,000 people from the US and
Canada sent critical comments to the USDA!


Thank you to everyone who sent comments to the USDA.


CBAN also collected signatures from 103 Canadian farmers and consumer groups
that were added to the US National Organic Coalition sign-on list. Our
Canadian signatures were 1/3rd of that list!


Your actions are still needed - over the next two months, we can stop GE
alfalfa!


You can take new action to stop GE alfalfa! - Write your MP today from
http://cban.ca/Take-Action/Support-Bill-C-474


March and April will be decisive for the future of alfalfa in Canada and the
US:


March 17: Bill C-474 will be debated! - Write your MP today from
http://cban.ca/Take-Action/Support-Bill-C-474 The Bill will require that “an
analysis of potential harm to export markets be conducted before the sale of
any new genetically engineered seed is permitted.” This Bill would create a
concrete obstacle to GE alfalfa and GE wheat. This Bill could pass if enough
Canadians write to their MPs before March 17 (this date could change).


March 30: The Canadian government and seed industry will meet to change the
regulations that would allow GE alfalfa onto the market! CBAN will be there.


April 27: CBAN will support the fight against Monsanto's challenge in the
U.S. Supreme Court. Monsanto is seeking to end the injunction on GE alfalfa
plantings at the U.S. Supreme Court. This case will have implications for all
future court cases that aim to stop GE plantings in the U.S..


Your financial contributions to CBAN at this time will help support our work
to stop GE alfalfa. Please consider a tax-deductible donation
http://www.cban.ca/donate


Please stay tuned for action alerts.


Thank you for your continued action and support at this critical time, Best
regards, Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network
More Than 200,000 NGOs, Farmers, Consumers, and Organic Producers

Call for USDA to Prohibit Genetically Engineered Alfalfa

Resulting contamination of non-GE and organic alfalfa hay and seed would
devastate livelihoods and organic industry




WASHINGTON, March 3, 2010 – The National Organic Coalition (NOC) today
announced that more than 200,000 people submitted comments to the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) critiquing the substance and
conclusions of its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Genetically
Engineered (GE) Alfalfa. Groups, including NOC, Center for Food Safety (CFS),
Organic Consumers Association, Food & Water Watch, CREDO Action and Food
Democracy Now, mobilized their communities to help generate the unprecedented
number of comments.

In addition, more than 300 public interest organizations, farmers, dairies,
retailers and organic food producers from the U.S. and Canada delivered a
strongly worded letter to USDA, calling upon it to deny approval of
Monsanto’s genetically engineered, Roundup Ready alfalfa (GE alfalfa). The
letter cites the inevitable contamination of organic and non-GE alfalfa hay
and seeds and threats to the viability of organic dairies, livestock, and
meat and dairy producers as reasons for urging the denial. NOC, Organic
Valley, Whole Foods, National Cooperative Grocers Association, CFS and others
agree that it would be irresponsible government policy to approve GE alfalfa
in the absence of legal requirements holding companies accountable for GE
contamination, as is currently the case.

In 2006, CFS sued USDA for its illegal approval of Monsanto’s GE alfalfa.
USDA failed to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS), as required
by law, before deregulating the crop.[i] The federal courts sided with CFS
and banned GE alfalfa plantings until USDA analyzed the impacts of GE alfalfa
on the environment, farmers and the public. Today marks the deadline for
submitting public comments on the draft EIS, which recommends approving
Monsanto’s GE alfalfa.

USDA’s EIS claims that organic consumers do not care about GE contamination
of their food, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Consumer
surveys show that 75 percent or more of respondents repeatedly say that they
do not want to eat GE contaminated food and cite their desire to avoid GE
food as one of the top five reasons for buying organic.[ii]

“GE alfalfa threatens the very fabric of the organic industry,” adds George
Siemon, one of the founding farmers and CEO of Organic Valley. “Organic
consumers want seeds and products to remain unpolluted by GE.”

Independent, empirical studies and past experience show that containment of
GE pollen and seeds is not possible GE alfalfa pollen can travel six miles or
more in the air, via bees or other pollinators.[iii] Seeds can also travel
long distances on harvesting equipment and on the boots and in the trucks of
people who work in fields and transport hay and seeds. More than 200 known
cases of GE contamination have been documented within the last decade. The
most serious and immediate cases of contamination are in canola (rapeseed)
crops. Due to widespread contamination, canola crops and oil can no longer be
marketed as organic or non-GE in Western Canada.

“The continued deregulation of GE crops threatens our food supply and the
diverse organic and conventional farming systems that have fed the world’s
growing population for centuries,” said Lisa J. Bunin, Ph.D., Organic Policy
Coordinator at Center for Food Safety. “It is unconscionable for USDA to
increasingly allow the concentration of our nation’s seed supply in the hands
of a few GE companies that produce a limited number of novel,
pesticide-promoting seed varieties.”

Despite the inevitable contamination from GE alfalfa, the EIS disavows this
harm and places the entire burden for preventing contamination on non-GE
farmers, with no protections for food producers, consumers and exporters. “If
Roundup Ready Alfalfa is permitted to be sold commercially, the ripple effect
would wipe out many organic and non-GE businesses, from organic seed and
forage growers to organic dairy farmers and retailers,” said Liana Hoodes,
Director, National Organic Coalition. “Every American’s right to cultivate,
sell and eat non-GE and organic food would no longer exist.”


Even though the EIS acknowledges that GE alfalfa would increase Roundup
herbicide use, since the vast majority of alfalfa farmers do not use any
herbicides at all (93 percent), it omits the fact that planting GE alfalfa
would require many farmers to use Roundup for the very first time. This would
result in the spread of toxic chemicals in regions where such toxins were
previously non-existent. Over the past 13 years, the planting of GE crops has
significantly increased herbicide use on corn, soybeans and cotton - by 383
million pounds.[iv] GE alfalfa deregulation would markedly add to that high
toxic burden on the environment.

"Our genetic gene pool is extremely valuable, and we can't afford to destroy
it by handing it over to the biotech companies,” warns Conventional South
Dakota alfalfa seed and hay grower, Chuck Noble. “If we've learned anything
from Europe's potato famines when millions starved to death, humans need seed
variety to protect against blight and famine. Genetic engineering severely
compromises that diversity."

To receive updates on GE alfalfa and action alerts for other food issues,
consumers can visit Center for Food Safety (www.truefoodnow.org) and join the
True Food Network community.

About the National Organic Coalition
The National Organic Coalition (NOC) is a national alliance of organizations
working to provide a “Washington voice” for farmers, ranchers,
environmentalists, consumers and progressive industry members involved in
organic agriculture. NOC seeks to work cooperatively with, and add value to,
existing organic and sustainable agriculture organizations, networks and
coalitions to ensure a united voice for organic integrity.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[i] An EIS is a rigorous analysis of the potential significant environmental,
economic, and social impacts of a federal decision, as required under the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

[ii] Organic Community Comments to APHIS, Proposed Rule and Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement for the Introduction of Genetically Engineered
Organisms, APHIS Docket 2008-002, June 29, 2009. The Hartman Group. (2006)
“Consumer Attitudes & Behavior, Five Years Later & Into the Future.”

[iii] United States Department of Agriculture. Glyphosate-Tolerant Alfalfa
Events J101 and J163: Request for Nonregulated Status. Draft Environmental
Impact Statement—November 2009. P.95.[iv]
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/

****

Consumers Union Poll: Two-Thirds of Organic Food Consumers Concerned with
Genetically Engineered Contamination

Results Contradict USDA's Position That Consumers Don't Care

Public Comment on Draft USDA Environmental Impact Statement on Genetically
Engineered Alfalfa Due March 3

Yonkers, NY-Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports,
today released new poll data showing that two-thirds of organic food
consumers are concerned about genetically engineered (GE) ingredients
contaminating organic food. Given the popularity of alfalfa sprouts among
health-oriented eaters, Consumers Union urges the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to consider the overwhelming consumer concern before
deciding to allow GE alfalfa on the market. USDA has until Wednesday, March 3
to receive public comment on its draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
on approval of GE alfalfa. The poll results can be found online at
http://greenerchoices.org/pdf/OrganicFood%20Poll_Public%20Release_Feb%202010.pdf.


"USDA's draft EIS is inadequate, leaving farmers and consumers unprotected.
This alfalfa has been engineered to allow herbicides to be used on it that
would normally kill the crop. The EIS states that consumers and organic
farmers don't care if their organic food is GE contaminated," said Michael
Hansen, PhD, senior scientist with Consumers Union. "Consumers Union's poll
states the exact opposite: consumers care greatly."

In 2006, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) sued USDA on behalf of farmers and
others regarding its approval of Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa, saying
that USDA should have prepared an EIS. CFS won and USDA was required to
prepare a full EIS analyzing the impact of approving GE alfalfa on the
environment, farmers, and the public. While USDA prepared the EIS, Monsanto
appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which will hear the case later
this year. In the meantime, farmers are in limbo about the legality of
planting GE alfalfa this spring.

The Consumers Union poll found:

* A majority of respondents expressed some level of concern with genetic
engineering contamination of organic food crops. Overall, 58% said they were
extremely concerned, very concerned or somewhat concerned with this
contamination.
* Two-thirds (66%) of consumers who purchase organic food indicated being
concerned versus half (50%) of those who don't make organic food purchases.

"Genetically engineered corn and soy are widely grown in the U.S. and organic
farmers and processors are having a very hard time keeping it out of organic
food and animal feed, where it is prohibited. Allowing GE alfalfa on the
market will create a whole new set of problems for the organic industry in
maintaining organic integrity. Once an engineered variety is grown outside,
it is almost impossible to contain it," said Dr. Hansen. "We are also
concerned that there is no FDA safety approval process for GE foods-companies
may consult with FDA, but it is up to the companies themselves to decide if
an engineered food is safe."

The Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a telephone survey
using a nationally representative probability sample of telephone households.
1,015 interviews were completed among adults aged 18+. Interviewing took
place over February 4-7, 2010. The sampling error is +/- 3.1% at a 95% level.





Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator
Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN)
Collaborative Campaigning for Food Sovereignty and Environmental Justice
431 Gilmour Street, Second Floor
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 0R5
Phone: 613 241 2267 ext.6
Fax: 613 241 2506
coordinator@cban.ca
www.cban.ca


Join the Global Rejection of GE Wheat! www.cban.ca/GEwheat


Donate today to support the campaign www.cban.ca/donate
































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>From venaurafarm@bellsouth.net Thu Mar 4 19:41:17 2010
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Subject: Re: [permaculture] Help for Appalachian Pc Project
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rafter sass wrote:
> I received and impassioned phone call from this man, John Kreiler, who
> is desperately seeking
> help from the Permaculture community. He is looking for design and
> planning help to turn his W. Viriginia
> site into a CSA, land trust, educational center. He has said he would
> welcome student designers
> to use his site as a learning project.
>
> Appalachia is the global global epicenter of temperate forest
> biodviersity. The links between social
> and ecological devastation are clear here. This would be an excellent
> site, socially and ecologically,
> for developing a Permaculture farm and learning center. If you, or
> your students are interested in working in Appalachia,
> then please consider reaching out to John.

I'd like to do the same with my site (market farm) here in the central
Piedmont of NC: market farm/permaculture demonstration
site/landtrust/educational center.

LL



  • [permaculture] Fw: [cban e-News] GE Alfalfa: Updates and New Immediate Actions!, fdnokes, 03/04/2010

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