The U.S. Supreme Court to Hear First Genetically Engineered Crop Case
Posted on January 15, 2010 by Heather from Center for Food Safety
Monsanto Takes Center for Food Safety Legal Victory to Highest Court
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a first-time case about the risks of genetically engineered crops. Named Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the case before the high court will be yet another step in an ongoing battle waged by the Center for Food Safety to protect consumers and the environment from potentially harmful effects of genetically engineered (GE) crops.
The modified alfalfa seed at the heart of the dispute has been engineered to be immune to Monsanto's flagship herbicide Roundup. Monsanto intervened in a 2007 federal district court ruling that the Department of Agriculture's approval of GE alfalfa was illegal. The Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a 2006 lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of non-profits and farmers who wished to retain the choice to plant non-GE alfalfa. CFS was victorious in this case. In addition CFS has won two appeals by Monsanto in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: in 2008 and again in 2009. Now, upon Monsanto's insistence, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.
This is truly a "David versus Goliath" struggle, between public interest non-profits and a corporation bent on nothing less than domination of our food system," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety. That Monsanto has pushed this case all the way to the Supreme Court, even though USDA's court-ordered analysis is now complete, and the U.S. government actively opposed further litigation in this matter, underscores the great lengths that Monsanto will go to further its mission of patent control of our food system and selling more pesticides.
The federal district court required the Department of Agriculture to undertake an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) assessing the impacts of the crop on the environment and on farmers; the first time the U.S. government had ever undertaken such analysis for any GE crop. The court permitted farmers that had already planted to continue, but halted any further planting pending the agency's re-assessment. That the EIS was required is not in dispute; the legal issue is only the scope of relief while USDA analyzed the impacts of the crop for the first time.
In October 2009 Monsanto asked the Supreme Court to hear further arguments. In response, the Center and the U.S. government separately opposed that request the following December. USDA completed the first draft of the EIS in December 2009.
"Although we believe a further hearing is unnecessary, we are confident we will again prevail, as the lower courts have already three times determined," continued Kimbrell. "We hope that this grand stage will further inform the public, policymakers and the media about the significant risks of genetically engineered crops and the vital need to protect farmers and the environment."
Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S. and a key source of dairy forage. It is the first perennial crop to be genetically engineered. It is open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at distances of several miles, spreading the patented, foreign DNA to conventional and organic crops. Such biological contamination threatens the livelihood of organic farmers and dairies, since the U.S. Organic standard prohibits genetic engineering, and alfalfa exporters, since most overseas governments also reject GE-contaminated crops.
"We trust the Supreme Court will uphold farmers right to choose their crop of choice and protect us from the constant fear of contamination from GE crops," said Phil Geertson, an alfalfa farmer based in Idaho.
Related:
A 2009 study showed that the use of genetically modified crops, the vast majority Monsanto's "roundup ready" crops, has caused over the last 13 years a dramatic increase in herbicide use, by 383 million pounds, and concomitant harms to the environment and human health.
The U.S. Department of Justice has undertaken an investigation of Monsanto regarding violations of anti-trust and monopoly laws and is set to hold public hearings in spring 2010.
Another 2009 study showed that, despite decades of promises and hype, GE crops do not increase yields.
# # #
The Center for Food Safety is national, non-profit, membership organization, founded in 1997, that works to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. On the web at: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
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Bioneers Store
Bioneers Store: "Beyond the Bar Code
Beyond the Bar Code: The Local Food Revolution
With Michael Pollan
Available on DVD, CD or as an mp3 download.
Priced from $4.95 - $14.95"
Beyond the Bar Code: The Local Food Revolution
With Michael Pollan
Available on DVD, CD or as an mp3 download.
Priced from $4.95 - $14.95"
Creating Food Policy Councils-An Idea Whose Time is NOW
Here is an interesting link from Tim Crosby from the Washington Sustainable Food Network an article about Food Policy Councils written by Eric Holt Gimenez and published on the Huffington Post
Breaking Through the Asphalt: Food Policy Councils
The cold spells in the U.S. and in Europe signal higher food prices again. This is bad news for the billion hungry people on the planet... and for the billion that suffer from obesity and diet-related diseases. That's because a good many of the "stuffed" are also "starved", in the sense that they are poor and cannot afford healthy food. They must survive on cheap, fast food and the foodlike substances shoveled out by the agrifoods industry. While diet-related diseases cost the U.S. health care system billions each year, the true cost of this "cheap" food, to personal, family, community and national welfare--and to the environment--is incalculable.
The foundational asphalt for the global food system, amply described and decried by food analysts like Raj Patel, Michael Pollan, Tom Phillipot, and many others, is the U.S. Farm Bill. It's passage every 5 years or so is ferociously lobbied by the biggest and baddest global monopolies on the planet (ADM, Monsanto, Cargill, etc.) Eliminating the industrial pork from this reified hunk of law is harder than pulling the transfat out of chicken nuggets. As such--barring a national food revolt--the Farm Bill will set the rules for our food systems for some time to come.
For this reason, family farm organizations, foodies and food justice activists seeking to change the way our food is grown, processed, distributed and consumed, tend to work from the ground up and the inside out, rather than from the top down and outside in. They have their work cut out for them.
Abroad and at home, the food crisis marches on. The USDA recently reported over 49 million people in the U.S. are now "food insecure." Use of food stamps is growing rapidly, and food banks are unable to tend to the record numbers of people--many from working families --who can't make ends meet. Communities around the country are faced with the pressing issues of hunger at a time when city, county and state budgets are deeply in the red, and when the food industry itself is in recession.
What is to be done until the food revolution comes? Plenty.
A recent publication from Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy describes a promising and growing response to the political and economic impasse of our nation's food systems: Food Policy Councils.
According to "Food Policy Councils; Lessons Learned"
"As the food and financial crises bring fresh urgency to concerns over hunger, food access, public health, labor and economic development - citizens and governments are beginning to connect these issues back to the food system as a whole. Councils are springing up across North America to "connect the dots" between the growing number of neighborhood food initiatives and communities forging policies for just, healthy food systems."
Food Policy Councils, at the city, county and state level, inject a healthy dose of democracy in our local food systems by bringing citizens, non-profits, local business and government together. Councils have helped city and state transportation departments deter urban sprawl into local farmland and helped school districts purchase food from local farmers.
According food policy expert CFSC Food Policy Council Project Director Mark Winne, "Local governments are the testing grounds for innovative policy ideas. What state and local governments do, and don't do, has a profound effect on health and hunger. While many government departments, businesses, and advocates touch on these issues, Food Policy Councils can build platforms for coordinated action."
Some councils have sought to turn the local food system into an engine for local economic development by providing incentives for establishing healthy food outlets and food processing facilities in underserved communities. Others have encouraged health departments to promote healthier eating through menu labeling and community-wide education programs. Social service agencies have been supported in an effort to distribute nutrition benefits such as food stamps to needy households.
Though they have been around for nearly thirty years, the transformative potential of Food Policy Councils is just now being recognized. This has as much to do with the spreading food crisis as it does with the steady growth of the nation's food movements. As the report makes clear:
"What people refer to as "the food movement" is actually a collection of social movements: food justice, fair food, fair trade, organic food, slow food, food security, public health, food sovereignty, family farms... and local folks just trying to make things better... Food Policy Councils have a unique quality within this wide array of activists, advocates and practitioners: they create democratic spaces for convergence in diversity. The power of informed, democratic convergence--especially when linked to the specific places where people live, work and eat--has an additional, emergent quality: it can change the way we--and others--think."
New thinking is precisely what is needed to break through the asphalt of our failing food system.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/breaking-through-the-asph_b_421040.html
Eric Holt Gimenez
Executive Director, Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
Posted: January 12, 2010 08:47 PM
Breaking Through the Asphalt: Food Policy Councils
The cold spells in the U.S. and in Europe signal higher food prices again. This is bad news for the billion hungry people on the planet... and for the billion that suffer from obesity and diet-related diseases. That's because a good many of the "stuffed" are also "starved", in the sense that they are poor and cannot afford healthy food. They must survive on cheap, fast food and the foodlike substances shoveled out by the agrifoods industry. While diet-related diseases cost the U.S. health care system billions each year, the true cost of this "cheap" food, to personal, family, community and national welfare--and to the environment--is incalculable.
The foundational asphalt for the global food system, amply described and decried by food analysts like Raj Patel, Michael Pollan, Tom Phillipot, and many others, is the U.S. Farm Bill. It's passage every 5 years or so is ferociously lobbied by the biggest and baddest global monopolies on the planet (ADM, Monsanto, Cargill, etc.) Eliminating the industrial pork from this reified hunk of law is harder than pulling the transfat out of chicken nuggets. As such--barring a national food revolt--the Farm Bill will set the rules for our food systems for some time to come.
For this reason, family farm organizations, foodies and food justice activists seeking to change the way our food is grown, processed, distributed and consumed, tend to work from the ground up and the inside out, rather than from the top down and outside in. They have their work cut out for them.
Abroad and at home, the food crisis marches on. The USDA recently reported over 49 million people in the U.S. are now "food insecure." Use of food stamps is growing rapidly, and food banks are unable to tend to the record numbers of people--many from working families --who can't make ends meet. Communities around the country are faced with the pressing issues of hunger at a time when city, county and state budgets are deeply in the red, and when the food industry itself is in recession.
What is to be done until the food revolution comes? Plenty.
A recent publication from Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy describes a promising and growing response to the political and economic impasse of our nation's food systems: Food Policy Councils.
According to "Food Policy Councils; Lessons Learned"
"As the food and financial crises bring fresh urgency to concerns over hunger, food access, public health, labor and economic development - citizens and governments are beginning to connect these issues back to the food system as a whole. Councils are springing up across North America to "connect the dots" between the growing number of neighborhood food initiatives and communities forging policies for just, healthy food systems."
Food Policy Councils, at the city, county and state level, inject a healthy dose of democracy in our local food systems by bringing citizens, non-profits, local business and government together. Councils have helped city and state transportation departments deter urban sprawl into local farmland and helped school districts purchase food from local farmers.
According food policy expert CFSC Food Policy Council Project Director Mark Winne, "Local governments are the testing grounds for innovative policy ideas. What state and local governments do, and don't do, has a profound effect on health and hunger. While many government departments, businesses, and advocates touch on these issues, Food Policy Councils can build platforms for coordinated action."
Some councils have sought to turn the local food system into an engine for local economic development by providing incentives for establishing healthy food outlets and food processing facilities in underserved communities. Others have encouraged health departments to promote healthier eating through menu labeling and community-wide education programs. Social service agencies have been supported in an effort to distribute nutrition benefits such as food stamps to needy households.
Though they have been around for nearly thirty years, the transformative potential of Food Policy Councils is just now being recognized. This has as much to do with the spreading food crisis as it does with the steady growth of the nation's food movements. As the report makes clear:
"What people refer to as "the food movement" is actually a collection of social movements: food justice, fair food, fair trade, organic food, slow food, food security, public health, food sovereignty, family farms... and local folks just trying to make things better... Food Policy Councils have a unique quality within this wide array of activists, advocates and practitioners: they create democratic spaces for convergence in diversity. The power of informed, democratic convergence--especially when linked to the specific places where people live, work and eat--has an additional, emergent quality: it can change the way we--and others--think."
New thinking is precisely what is needed to break through the asphalt of our failing food system.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/breaking-through-the-asph_b_421040.html
Eric Holt Gimenez
Executive Director, Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
Posted: January 12, 2010 08:47 PM
Monday, January 11, 2010
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