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by Ken Roseboro
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GET INVOLVED
To learn more about Northwest Resistance Against Genetic Engineering, come to a public movie/discussion night, held at 7 p.m. the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 3347 SE Belmont, above the Belmont Inn (ring bell #5) or call 503-239-6841.
Go to the NW Rage website at www.nwrage.org to take action by sending a letter to Hershey’s urging the company to publicly reject the use of GE sugar in its chocolates and other sweets. |
A lawsuit filed last year to stop sales of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready genetically modified (GM) sugar beet seed will be argued in a U.S. District Court of Northern California on April 3. One man’s livelihood may hang in the balance.
The plaintiffs, which include Organic Seed Alliance, Sierra Club, High Mowing Organic Seeds, and the Center for Food Safety, want the court to stop sales of Roundup Ready GM sugar beet seed and require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to thoroughly assess the environmental, health, and economic impacts of the GM beets.
“GMO contamination is inevitable”
Frank Morton, owner of Wild Garden Seeds and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, says the GM beets threaten his livelihood. Morton produces seed for organic chard, table beets, and other vegetables in Philomath in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where seed for the GM beets is also grown. Pollen from the GM beets grown here could easily contaminate his seed, destroying the organic status of the seed and ruining his business.
According to Morton, 5,000 acres of GM sugar beet seed are grown in the valley. He is angry that GM seed production was introduced into the valley secretly.
“The initial stages of GM beet seed production were carried out in secrecy for at least two years without other sugar beet seed growers having any knowledge or notification that GMOs (genetically modified organisms) were in the air, literally,” he says.
The Willamette Valley Specialty Seed Association established a three-mile isolation distance between the GM sugar beets and conventional and organic plants. Morton says the isolation distance is inadequate. “GMO contamination is inevitable under the current situation.”
GM sugar beets were grown and harvested for the first time in the United States in 2008.
According to industry estimates, about 60 percent of the 1.2 million acres of sugar beets grown last year were Roundup Ready GM varieties.
The beets were grown in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. California grew only non-GMO, conventional varieties.
Tom Schwartz, executive vice president of the Beet Sugar Development Foundation, told the San Francisco Chronicle that 90 percent to 95 percent of this year’s U.S. sugar beet crop will be GM.
The GE sugar beet is designed to withstand strong doses of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide (glyphosate). Studies indicate farmers planting “Roundup Ready” corn and soy are now spraying more Roundup than ever before, contaminating soil and water.
When the USDA first approved the planting of GE sugar beets in 1998, the EPA also increased the maximum allowable residues of glyphosate on the beet roots (from which sugar is extracted) by a staggering 5,000 percent. This policy change was made at Monsanto’s request.
“Roundup Ready salad greens”
Cross pollination between GM sugar beets and related plants, such as chard and table beets, is a major threat in the Willamette Valley where sugar beets are the predominant crop. Morton says there are many areas where chard and sugar beet fields are “rubbing up against one another.” The two plants cross pollinate because they are the same species.
Morton now sends his seed to a laboratory that tests for GMO contamination. “I’m watching for contamination, and if it happens, people will hear about it,” he says. “I have to pay an expense on account of a technology that will destroy the value of our crop if we get positive results. Nobody considered that Roundup Ready sugar beets in one generation might turn up as Roundup Ready salad greens in the next.”
Lawsuit to stop GM beets
As a result of the threat to his business, Morton joined a lawsuit organized by the Center for Food Safety to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture for failing to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS). “USDA didn’t consider the impact on all these farms and markets to where we sell seeds. My markets have zero tolerance to GMOs,” he says. “If there is any GMO contamination, my customers won’t buy the seed. Who is going to pay for that?”
Tom Stearns, president of High Mowing Organic Seeds, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, says “GM sugar beets will inevitably cross-pollinate with related crops — such as table beets and chard — that are grown in close proximity. Overseas markets have already rejected other GMO products, so the economic future of many of our nation’s farmers is being needlessly risked.”
The case goes to court on April 3. Last August, Monsanto petitioned the court to become party to the suit along with sugar beet processors and seed growers cooperative. The judge denied the petition, which Morton says was a victory.
Kevin Golden, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety, says he is confident the court will rule in the plaintiffs’ favor based on a precedent set in 2007 in a similar lawsuit involving GM alfalfa. In that case, the court required USDA to conduct an EIS on GM alfalfa and issued an injunction to stop sale of the seed. “The alfalfa case has established a very strong legal precedent. We are confident the judge will find that the USDA failed to do its legal duty under the National Environmental Policy Act (which requires that the agency conduct an environmental impact study),” explains Golden.
Golden understands the personal significance of the case. “Frank Morton is directly threatened. This is about protecting him directly.”
Non-GMO sugar suppliers emerge from controversy over GM beets
The first crop of genetically modified sugar beets was harvested this past fall in the United States, and at least three sugar processors have indicated they will sell only non-GMO sugar — for now. Spreckels Sugar, in Brawley, California, and Rogers Sugar/Lantic, Inc., in Alberta, Canada, currently process sugar from non-GMO sugar beets, while Diamond Sugar in Savannah, Georgia manufactures sugar products from non-GMO sugar beets.
Spreckels may not remain non-GMO for long, according to a company official. California farmers selling to Spreckels, which is a subsidiary of the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, did not have the Roundup Ready GM varieties to grow this past year, but that could change this year. “They are hoping to get GM seed varieties,” the official said. That could happen this year or in 2010. The official predicts, “They will convert to Roundup Ready rapidly.”
California’s growing season requires different seed varieties than those grown in other states, and these varieties have not yet been released.
Rogers Sugar/Lantic operates a sugar beet processing facility in Taber, Alberta, Canada. The facility contracts with about 400 sugar beet farmers each year and produces up to 150,000 tons of sugar each year from the harvested beets. Sugar products include white, brown, liquid, and organic sugars.
Andrew Lewellyn Jones, a member of Rogers Sugar/Lantic quality assurance’s team, said the company exports its products to Europe, where the GM sugar beets have not been approved. He says his company will continue processing conventional, non-GMO sugar beets. However, he said that if only GM seed were available to farmers, the company may be forced to buy GM beets.
Interestingly, Rogers/Lantic mentioned its non-GMO statement on a Q&A page on its website. However, that statement was recently removed, which may indicate that the company may not want to publicize its non-GMO commitment.
Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) recently announced a commitment to purchase only food products from suppliers who don’t use sugar from GM sugar beets. A survey of its largest food suppliers found that, while most suppliers preferred to buy non-GMO sugar beets, only Diamond Crystal said it would buy only verified non-GMO supplies of sugar.
The non-GMO sugar suppliers emerged despite the fact that the US sugar beet industry aimed to block a non-GMO option.
While these are the only non-GMO suppliers of beet sugar found to date, there are many suppliers of conventional and organic sugar from sugar cane. These include Wholesome Sweeteners, based in Sugar Land, Texas (www.organicsugars.biz) and Florida Crystals Food Corporation, based in West Palm Beach, Florida (www.floridacrystals.com).
Non-GM Beet Sugar Registry
Food safety, environmental, and corporate watchdog groups recently launched the Non-Genetically Modified Beet Sugar Registry, which lists 70 grocery chains and food producers who have committed to not use or sell GM beet sugar.
By signing on to the Registry, companies pledge to not support the introduction of sugar from GM beets, to avoid using GM beet sugar in their products, and to ask the sugar beet industry to not introduce GM beet sugar into the food supply.
“The effects of GM crop production on our environment and health have never been seriously researched and are not understood,” said Jeffrey Smith, director, Institute for Responsible Technology. “We need to avoid the all-too-common situation of finding out a product is harmful after it has been approved and widely distributed. Requiring that GM foods be labeled is the only protection consumers have if they want to avoid eating GM foods.”
Companies have rejected GM sugar beets not only because they have not been proven safe but also because the EPA had increased allowable levels of herbicide residues on GM sugar beet roots by up to 5,000 percent when USDA approved the crop for planting.
Companies that have signed on to the Registry include Organic Valley Family of Farms, WholeSoy, Inc., Pure Fun Confections, Blue Marble Brands (a subsidiary of United Natural Foods), Equal Exchange, KFM Foods International, and New England Natural Bakers, among others.
The Registry is available at www.seedsofdeception.com/includes/services/nongm_sugar_beet_registry_display.cfm.
Ken Roseboro is editor and publisher of The Organic & Non-GMO Report, a Eugene-based publication that focuses on the threats of genetically engineered foods and the markets for non-GMO and organic foods. For more information visit www.non-gmoreport.com. Reprinted with permission from The Organic & Non-GMO Report.
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