Former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, now Secretary of the U.S. Department of  
Agriculture (USDA), recently approved planting of Roundup Ready genetically  
engineered alfalfa.--Tom
 
In a message dated 3/18/2011 4:37:58 P.M. Central Daylight Time, 
[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])  writes:

Farmers and Consumer Groups File  Lawsuit Challenging Genetically 
Engineered Alfalfa  Approval 
March 18, 2011 –   
“Roundup Ready” Alfalfa Will  Increase Pesticide Use and Cause Grave Harm 
to Environment and Organic  Industry
USDA Failures Guarantee Transgenic Contamination,  Creation of More 
Superweeds 
Today, attorneys for the Center for Food  Safety (CFS) and Earthjustice 
_filed a lawsuit_ 
(http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1-Complaint.pdf)  against the U.S. Department of  Agriculture (USDA), 
arguing that the agency’s recent unrestricted approval of  genetically 
engineered (GE), “Roundup Ready” Alfalfa was unlawful.  The  GE crop is engineered 
to be immune to the herbicide glyphosate, which Monsanto  markets as Roundup. 
 USDA data show that 93% of all the alfalfa planted  by farmers in the U.S. 
is grown without the use of any herbicides.  With  the full deregulation of 
GE alfalfa, USDA estimates that up to 23 million more  pounds of toxic 
herbicides will be released into the environment each  year. 
“USDA has once again failed to provide adequate  oversight of a biotech 
crop,” said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the  Center for Food Safety. 
“This reckless approval flies in the face of  overwhelming evidence that GE 
alfalfa threatens the rights of farmers and  consumers, as well as 
significant harm to the environment.  APHIS has  refused to apply and enforce the 
law and instead has chosen to bow to the  wishes of the biotech industry.” 
This is the second case challenging the legality  of USDA’s handling of GE 
alfalfa.  In 2007, in another case brought by  CFS, a federal court ruled 
that the USDA’s approval of the engineered crop  violated environmental laws 
by failing to analyze risks such as the  contamination of conventional and 
organic alfalfa, the evolution of  glyphosate-resistant weeds, and increased 
use of Roundup.  The case  resulted in USDA undertaking a court-ordered 
four-year study of GE alfalfa’s  impacts under the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA).  Remarkably,  it marked the first time USDA had ever undertaken 
such a study, known as an  Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), in over 15 
years of approving GE crops  for commercial production.  While USDA worked 
on the EIS, GE alfalfa  remained unlawful to plant or sell, a ban that 
remained in place despite  Monsanto appealing the case all the way to the U.S. 
Supreme Court. 
Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff commented: “We  expect Monsanto to 
force-feed people genetically engineered crops—that’s its  business model.  We 
hoped for better from the USDA, which has much  broader responsibilities.  
GE alfalfa will greatly increase use of toxic  chemicals from coast to coast, 
threatens the organic dairy industry, and will  have farmers going back to 
Monsanto every year to buy its patented seed and  Roundup.” 
The plaintiffs include a diverse coalition of  conventional and organic 
farmers, dairies and agricultural associations, and  environmental and consumer 
groups: CFS, Beyond Pesticides, Cornucopia  Institute, California Farmers 
Union, Dakota Resources Council, Geertson Seed  Farms, National Family Farm 
Coalition, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers  Alliance, Sierra Club, Trask 
Family Seeds and Western Organization of Resource  Councils.  
“We in the farm sector are dissatisfied but not  surprised at the lack of 
courage from USDA to prohibit Roundup Ready alfalfa  and defend family 
farmers,” said plaintiff farmer Pat Trask. 
Known as the “queen of forages,” alfalfa is the  key feedstock for the 
dairy industry.  Organic dairies stand to lose  their source of organic feed, a 
requirement for organic dairy, including milk  and yogurt products.  The 
organic sector is the most vibrant part of U.S.  agriculture, now a 26 billion 
dollar a year industry and growing 20%  annually. 
“Approving the unrestricted planting of GE alfalfa  is a blatant case of 
the USDA serving one form of agriculture at the expense  of all others,” says 
plaintiff Ed Maltby, Executive Director of the Northeast  Alliance of 
Organic Dairy Producers.  “If this decision is not remedied,  the result will be 
lost livelihoods for organic dairy farmers, loss of choice  for farmers and 
consumers, and no transparency about GE contamination of our  foods.” 
Because alfalfa is pollinated by bees that can fly  and cross-pollinate 
between fields and feral sources many miles apart, the  engineered crop will 
contaminate natural alfalfa varieties.  Roundup  Ready alfalfa is the first 
engineered perennial crop, meaning it remains in  the ground for 3-6 years and 
is widely prevalent in wild or feral form  throughout America, further 
increasing the likelihood and extent of transgenic  contamination.  
“USDA’s review is inaccurate and completely failed  to consider critical 
issues.  The decision to deregulate Roundup Ready  alfalfa opens the door to 
widespread transgenic contamination, costing farmers  their markets, 
reputation and ability to grow natural varieties,” said  plaintiff farmer Phil 
Geertson. 
“We are an organic, grass-fed beef operation  relying on alfalfa in pasture 
mix and for winter feed.  GE alfalfa means  contamination of all alfalfa 
seeds within a few years.  Our options  include giving up organic production 
at great revenue loss or finding another  forage at great cost increase,” 
says organic beef producer Jim Munsch from  Wisconsin.  
Approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa will spur the  glyphosate-resistant 
epidemic that is already regarded as one of the most  serious challenges facing 
U.S. agriculture.  Weeds evolve resistance to  glyphosate just as bacteria 
evolve immunity to overused antibiotics.   While other Roundup Ready crops 
spawned the epidemic, Roundup Ready alfalfa  will exacerbate it by increasing 
the frequency and intensity of glyphosate use  on millions of acres of 
cropland.  Farmers respond to resistant weeds by  applying more and more 
herbicides, soil-eroding tillage operations, and even  hand-weeding on hundreds of 
thousands of acres.  Such “superweeds” have  expanded four-fold to infest 
over 10 million acres since just 2008, with some  projecting 38 million acres 
by 2013.  Alfalfa, the fourth most prevalent  crop in the U.S., is grown on 
over 20 million acres, spanning every  state. 
“Alfalfa grows in dense stands that naturally  suppress weeds, and so has 
traditionally been the one crop in farmers’  rotations that provides a 
much-needed break from the onslaught of toxic  herbicides.  Roundup Ready alfalfa 
will only foster still more resistant  weeds, and thereby increase the 
pesticide dependence of U.S. agriculture  beyond already unsustainable levels,” 
said Bill Freese, CFS Science Policy  Analyst. 
The latest USDA data show that less than 10  percent of alfalfa acres are 
sprayed with any herbicide, and consequently, GE  alfalfa will dramatically 
increase the use of such chemicals across the  country, with all of their 
attendant hazards to wildlife, plants, groundwater,  and people. 
*** 
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