The USDA announced on Thursday the decision to deregulate Roundup Ready alfalfa without conditions. The ruling follows a lengthy USDA environmental review that determined the product was safe, as well as a public forum held last week by the House Agriculture Committee to discuss the USDA regulatory process.
An article in the Wall Street Journal points out that the USDA says that the ruling is consistent with the Obama administration’s broader agenda to remove regulations that are “overly burdensome for businesses.” The Des Moines Register points out that the decision comes as a victory for the biotech companies and farmers who have “said planting restrictions could slow the development of genetically modified products, and there were worries in Congress that the rules could undermine U.S. efforts to convince other countries of the safety of biotech food.”
Paul Voosen of Greenwire writes for the New York Times that the Department of Agriculture’s decision to allow unrestricted cultivation of the biotech crop will be positively received by many farmers who grow alfalfa, the fourth largest U.S. field crop planted. “Many farmers will welcome an ability to grow the herbicide-resistant alfalfa, seeking to copy the gains made by their peers cultivating bioengineered corn or soy, both of which also carry genes granting herbicide resistance.”
According to Forbes, the decision to allow biotech alfalfa intends, “to bring to a close a lengthy legal and regulatory process in which organic producers attempted to curtail the use of the modified crop.” An article in New Scientist captures the implications of the decision and its support for science-based regulations. Farmer associations “had feared a decision to regulate alfalfa would set a precedent that could hinder engineered crops in the US. ‘Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s decision is based on sound science and two decades of regulatory precedent,’ said Jim Greenwood, CEO of Biotechnology Industry Organization.”
This morning the House Agriculture Committee held a public forum to review the biotechnology product regulatory approval process. Discussion focused on the USDA’s pending decision on biotech alfalfa which considers three options: no deregulation, total deregulation, or partial deregulation with isolation standards to prevent contamination of non-GM crops.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack affirmed that the USDA will make a decision driven by science. He expressed his support for the role that biotechnology plays in increasing productivity and helping to feed a growing world population. “We believe that biotechnology stands to play a significant role in our effort to support our drive toward energy independence, conserve our natural resources, and meet the world’s growing demand for food, feed, fiber, and fuel,” he said. The USDA has approved 75 biotech products. He estimates that deregulation with isolation conditions could mean that close to 20% of land would be off limits for growing GE alfalfa.
Charles Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, pointed out that biotech crops are an important source of income for farmers and ensure that productivity keeps pace with demand. In 2008, before biotech alfalfa was withheld from the market, he said that farmers benefited from higher productivity and a $110 increase in profit per acre. Based on his assessment of the USDA’s pending decision, Mr. Conner said the USDA should have no authority other than to deregulate the product since scientific review under the Plant Protection Act has confirmed its safety.
GMO Research aims to prevent spread of banana disease
According to an article in The New Yorker magazine, GMO research aims to prevent the spread of a soil-borne disease, called Tropical Race Four, that threatens to wipe out a widely exported and commonly sold variety of banana called Cavendish. Robert Borsato, a fruit farmer in Australia who, like others, has witnessed the tens of millions of dollars’ worth of damage in lost jobs and revenue caused by Tropical Race Four, said, “The only way to keep going is to breed a disease-resistant variety, one with commercial potential.” A team led by James Dale of Queensland University of Technology in Australia is working on genetically modified Cavendish. Read more.
Secretary Vilsack proposes co-existence for biotech alfalfa, Reuters reports
USDA Secretary Vilsack addresses farm groups
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraged the largest U.S. farm group to find a way for traditional and genetically modified crops to co-exist, Reuters reports. “Every farmer ought to be able to do what he or she wants to do on their land, so we are going to continue to have that conversation,” Vilsack said at the annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). His proposed solution addressed the USDA’s deliberation between total deregulation and partial deregulation with isolation standards for biotech alfalfa. The article points out that Secretary Vilsack has acknowledged that the biotech alfalfa is safe. Read more.
Unproven claims against GM products similar to opposition to MMR vaccine, FT says
A Financial Times article compares previous opposition to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) and current opposition to GM products to show that opponents’ arguments in both cases are unsubstantiated by peer-reviewed scientific research. Falsified information about the health hazards of MMR was later discredited only after causing considerable damage from a measles epidemic. The article points out that while the food debate raises different issues, independent research and food safety authorities in the EU have similarly reviewed opposing arguments to find, “Organic food does no harm. But then neither, it seems, does non-organic food.” Read More.
