Luis Torres

February 26, 2011

The controversy over Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops has spilled over into Roundup Ready sugar beets. The USDA announced on February 4th that it intended to partially deregulate the sugar beet seeds, by using "compliance agreements" to enforce conditions on their use, such as protective barriers to protect pollen from the GMO crops from blowing into fields with organic crops. The USDA previously had moved to completely deregulate the seeds, but was forestalled by the Northern California District Court, when that court determined that the agency had not, and was required to, complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The court will hear arguments on the matter again on February 15.

This is the latest chapter in the litany of battles between Monsanto and those who oppose GMO crops. USDA's decision comes just weeks after the agency approved Roundup Ready alfafa for complete deregulation. That decision followed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling, in Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, that although an EIS was required for approval of the alfafa, an injunction pending the EIS was improper. The current decision of the USDA on sugar beets is now being challenged

Roundup Ready seeds are those engineered to resist Roundup, an herbicide designed to kill weeds but that also happens to kill most other plants. Monsanto markets the seeds as "no-till" because they make tilling, the traditional method of eliminating weeds, unnecessary. Environmentalists see several problems with Roundup Ready seeds, however. Most significant is the possibility of genetic migration from a Roundup Ready crop to non-GMO or organic crop. If and when this occurs the latter crop would be contaminated and be essentially a Roundup Ready crop. Because organic foods must be GMO-free, organic farmers consider this a grave danger to their market potential. In this particular case GMO sugar beets could mix in with non-GMO swiss chard, a similar species. Also, since Monsanto holds a patent on Roundup Ready crops, they could potentially sue the farmers who then inadvertently use those crops. Another problem is the potential of Roundup to create "superweeds," such that a farmer who uses Roundup Ready crops will always have to use Roundup Ready crops. These problems, if true, are significant because studies show that GMOs may cause health issues in humans, such as abnormal cell growth and increased toxins in the digestive tract and liver.

Monsanto insists that cross-pollination will be minimal if it occurs at all. The protective measures imposed by the USDA (at least for the time being) may substantiate this argument. However, the USDA had earlier defended its actions because seedlings and actual sugar beets have a separate crop cycle. Also, the agency has banned the "biotech beets" in areas with large concentrations of organic sugar beet seeds, like California and parts of Washington. The USDA's main justification for the deregulation, however, is the huge shortage of granulated sugar that has occurred this year. Monsanto generally touts its GMO crops as a way to reduce agricultural land use and increase crop yields. The USDA's decision is another victory for them in that area.

Sources:

Paul Voosen, USDA to Partially Deregulate Biotech Beets, E&EnewsPM (Feb. 4, 2011), http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2011/02/04/archive/1?terms=sugar+beets.

Center for Food Safety v. Vilsack, 2010 WL 4869117 (N.D. Cal.).

Dan Flynn, Partial Deregulation of Sugar Beets Appealed, Food Safety News (Feb. 8, 2011), http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/02/usdas-partial-deregulation-of-gm-sugar-beets-might-not-last.

Scott Kilman and Bill Tomson, Modified Beet Gets New Life, Wall Street Journal (Feb. 5, 2011), http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576124454083334630.html.

Tom Philpott, How the Agrichemical Industry Turns Failure into Market Opportunity, GRIST (Jun. 9, 2010), http://www.grist.org/article/How-the-agrichemical-industry-turns-failure-into-market-opportunity.

Ariel Schwartz, Beet Down: Court Orders Monsanto Sugar Beets to be Destroyed, FAST COMPANY (Dec. 1, 2010), http://www.fastcompany.com/1706717/beet-down-court-orders-monsanto-sugarbeets-to-be-destroyed.

Institute for Responsible Technology, State of the Science Health Risks of GM Foods 4-6 (year unknown), available at http://www.saynotogmos.org/paper.pdf.