Sierra Club is involved in this lawsuit.
Laurel Hopwood, Chair, Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Action
Team
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/2478/lawsuit-filed-to-protect-midwest-wildlife-refuges
Lawsuit Filed to Protect Midwest Wildlife
Refuges
August 27th, 2013
(edited for length)
Pesticides and Genetically Engineered Crops on Refuge
Lands Are Illegal and Damaging to the Environment
A federal lawsuit filed
today seeks to halt the planting of genetically engineered (GE) crops and end
blanket pesticide use in national wildlife refuges in the Midwest region.
The suit demands that the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), which
operates the refuges, stop these practices until it undertakes rigorous
analyses of their environmental impacts.
The lawsuit was filed today in the U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of California by the Center for Food Safety, Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Sierra Club, and Beyond
Pesticides. It charges that FWS unlawfully entered into farming
contracts on five refuges in four Midwestern states (IL, IA, MN and MO)
without the environmental analysis required by the National Environmental
Policy Act and the Refuge Improvement Act.
Besides GE crops, this suit also challenges the use of
highly potent pesticides linked to -
* Devastating declines in bee populations and
elimination of other beneficial insects;
* Chemical contamination of streams running through
refuges; and
* Damage to already imperiled amphibian
populations.
FWS has allowed farming on refuge lands for decades
despite its harmful effects on wildlife, native grasses, and
biodiversity. In recent years, refuges have converted to GE crops, which
are engineered to be resistant to herbicides, principally Monsanto's
ubiquitous Roundup. Their planting leads to more frequent applications
of increased toxicity. This suit is the next step in the drive by PEER
and CFS to ban GE crop cultivation from all refuges across the country.
Halting GE crop cultivation throughout the Midwest Region would
dramatically cut pesticide use until the agency completes a rigorous review of
all potential impacts and consistency with the refuges'
purposes.
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