Christiana Cooley

October 11, 2008

Over seventy varieties of genetically modified plants have been approved by the U.S. Depart of Agriculture in the last decade, but a recent federal decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California has halted the USDA's GM approval process. In a victory for environmental groups, the Ninth Circuit upheld the district court's injunction prohibiting the planting of GM alfalfa seeds.

The plaintiffs--including conventional alfalfa growers and environmental interest groups--argued that the USDA had failed to adequately assess the potential effects of GM alfalfa on the environment before allowing commercial sales of the seed. The district court agreed, and placed a moratorium on seed sales until the USDA could issue a full Environmental Impact Statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

The plaintiffs filed suit over concerns about cross-pollination between the GM seed variety and conventional and organic varieties. This type of genetic pollution has already occurred with other GM crops, most notably in the cases of rice and corn. The GM alfalfa seeds at the center of the litigation were developed and marketed by the Monsanto as part of their Roundup Ready line of crops. The seeds contain a genetic modification that makes them more resistant to Monsanto's herbicide Roundup.

The Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service, the branch of the USDA responsible for licensing genetically modified crops, has been widely criticized for putting the biotechnology industry's interests ahead of those of farmers and consumers. Part of the order issued with the district court's injunction requires the APHIS and the USDA to review and rewrite the field-testing and deregulation procedures for permitting GM crops.

Carey Gillam, Court Halt on GMO Alfalfa Shows USDA Failure, Reuters, March 15, 2007, http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40866/story.htm.

Sara Goodman, Appeals court upholds ban on GM alfalfa, Greenwire, Sept. 3, 2008, http://stevens.vermontlaw.edu:2069/Greenwire/2008/09/03/archive/11?terms=biotech.

Marc Lifsher, Judge halts sale of biotech alfalfa seeds, L.A. Times, March 13, 2007, at C1, available at http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/13/business/fi-seeds13.

Geertson Seed Farms v. Johanns, 541 F.3rd 938 (9th Cir. 2008).

Geertson Farms, Inc. v. Johanns, 2007 WL 776146 (N.D.Cal. 2007).