USDA ‘partially deregulates’ GM sugar beets, defying court order

[marmar]

USDA ‘partially deregulates’ GM sugar beets, defying court order
by Tom Philpott

5 Feb 2011 11:07 AM


A week ago, the USDA shocked the organic-farming community by "fully deregulating" genetically modified alfalfa, after acknowledging that organic farmers had legitimate concerns about the move and hinting they'd be taken into account.

On Friday, the agency didn't simply skulk away from its own words in an apparent attempt to appease the agrichemical industry. This time, it defied a court order banning the planting of GM sugar beets until a proper study of their environmental impact can be done. The USDA announced that it would allow farmers to begin planting Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets -- genetically tweaked to withstand copious lashings of Monsanto's herbicide -- even though the environmental impact study has yet to be completed, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"The USDA decision is the second big victory for the crop-biotechnology industry in a week," the Journal noted.

Sugar beets provide about half of the sugar consumed in the United States -- and Monsanto controls 95 percent of the sugar beet seed market with its Roundup Ready genes. The company's stranglehold over the beet market demonstrates its insidious market power. When a federal judge demanded in August 2010 that farmers stop planting Monsanto's GM beet seeds pending an impact study, farmers quickly found out that virtually no non-GM seed was available. Between 2005, when the USDA first greenlighted GM beets, and 2010, Monsanto had essentially driven all competition out of the market. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/article/2011-02-05-usda-defies-court-order-partially-deregulates-gm-sugar-beets

[xchrom]

1. ...

:mad: must some of that 'innovation' stuff.

[SpiralHawk]

2. The corporate MUTANT CRAPOLA onslaught is in full bore

"You will SHUT UP, and you WILL eat our damn occult unlabled MUTANT MUSH, and you WILL like it. Fuck you and your prissy lib 'ideas' about free will. End of discussion."

Big Ag Division, RepubliCorp, Inc. (R)

[ThomCat]

3. So where are the cosequences for violating the court order?

Where is the accountability?

Where is Obama with a comment? Isn't he even going to attempt to deny this time that his administration just shills for corporations?

:grr: