The decision by the USDA to approve deregulation of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa has been upheld by the federal Ninth District Circuit Court. The Cornucopia Institute was one of the plaintiffs in the legal challenge brought by the Center for Food Safety.
Alfalfa, grown on over 21 million acres, is worth $8 billion per year (not including the value of final products, such as dairy products), making it the country’s third most valuable and fourth most widely grown crop. It is primarily used as feed and forage for dairy cows and beef cattle, and alfalfa also greatly contributes to pork, lamb, sheep, and honey production. Consumers directly eat alfalfa as sprouts in salads and other foods.
Cornucopia and other opponents argued that the USDA failed in its review of GE alfalfa to fully analyze the public health, environmental, and economic consequences of Monsanto’s new crop. Furthermore, concerns were raised that GE alfalfa will likely contaminate natural alfalfa and ultimately prevent farmers from producing natural, non-GE alfalfa for markets that demand it.
Alfalfa is a perennial crop, and the deregulation of GE alfalfa makes it the first perennial approved for usage. The plant is open-pollinated by bees and other insects. With bees traveling 4-6 miles, they can potentially spread Monsanto’s patented, foreign DNA to distant conventional and organic crops. The potential for biological contamination from a neighbor’s field, even miles away, threatens the livelihood of farmers, dairies and other livestock producers.
And because it is a perennial, it is very likely that genetically engineered “volunteers” will escape from farm fields and/or be scattered along roadsides from harvest and transport equipment. Escaped or feral plants will live on for multiple years producing GE pollen to contaminate non-GE alfalfa. And farmers who are unable to cut GE alfalfa before it blooms, and goes to seed – due to weather or other factors – open another door to the accidental release of GE pollen into the environment.”
“This is an irresponsible decision,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety. “The court acknowledged the many stark environmental and economic impacts of these crops, and yet bends over backwards in allowing USDA to avoid addressing those concerns in its regulatory process.”
“Coexistence with GE alfalfa is not possible without wrecking the conventional alfalfa and seed industry and causing further monopoly,” notes chuck Noble, a Bellevue, Washington farmer who raises alfalfa. “The USDA should realize that not all crops can coexist nor should all crops be genetically engineered.”
Monsanto’s GE alfalfa is designed to tolerate direct application of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. Eighty-three percent of U.S. alfalfa currently is grown with no herbicides at all. Widespread planting of other genetically engineered Roundup Ready crop varieties has led to ever increasing herbicide use with weeds now developing resistance as glyphosate is overused.
The Center for Food Safety has announced its intention to appeal the decision and take other legal actions against USDA and EPA to ensure adequate regulation of these and other GE crops.
