Court Ruling Could Lead to Ban on GMO Sugar Beets

By Courtney Lowery, 9-23-09

A judge in California has ruled against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a case that could lead to a ban on genetically modified sugar beet production.

Federal judge Jeffrey S. White ruled on Monday in favor of the plaintiffs (including the Organic Seed Alliance, Sierra Club, High Mowing Organic Seeds, and the Center for Food Safety), saying that by not doing an environmental impact studey the government failed to “take a hard look” at the environmental effects of GMO beet production or the possible spread of GMO beet traits to non-GMO beets or to the beet’s cousin, swiss chard, before it approved it for production.

Depending on how the rest of the case goes—a meeting is scheduled for Oct. 30—the ruling could mean a ban on planting “Roundup Ready” sugar beets, which biotech giant Monsanto introduced into the market—and the USDA approved for production—four years ago. The Center for Food Safety, hailed the decision, and said in a release this week that the upcoming meeting was “to discuss the remedies phase of the case, including potential injunctive relief.”

Earlier this summer, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2-year ban on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa.

In his ruling (link opens PDF of case documents), White wrote, “… this Court finds that the potential elimination of farmer’s choice to grow non-genetically engineered crops, or a consumer’s choice to eat nongenetically engineered food, and an action that potentially eliminates or reduces the availability of a particular plant has a significant effect on the human environment.”

Monsanto was quick to say that the judge found fault not with the safety of Roundup Ready sugar beets, but in the USDA’s process for approving the crop.

From Monsanto’s ”Monsanto Today” Web site:

“This ruling focused on the process used by the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in deregulating Genuity™ Roundup Ready® sugarbeets, and in no way questioned the safety or benefits of Genuity™ Roundup Ready® sugarbeets.”

The company went on: “Until now, only the plaintiffs (Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, Sierra Club and High Mowing Organic Seeds) and USDA had a direct role in the initial “merits” phase of the case.  Growers, processors, seed companies and tech suppliers will be able to play a more active role in late October during the next phase of the proceedings.  Judge White’s decision has no immediate effect on growers producing biotech sugarbeets or on the processors.  Genuity™ Roundup Ready® sugarbeet growers may harvest their crops and process them as usual.”

In 2008, statistics showed that 50 percent of all sugar beets in the country were Roundup Ready. Now, Monsanto claims that its Roundup Ready sugar beets make up 95 percent of the total planted sugar beet acreage in North America (See St. Louis Post Dispatch story here.) Sugar beets are primarily grown in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

Some estimates show at least 30 percent of our sugar supply comes from sugar beets.

The ruling has the potential to finally settle things for Boulder County, where the issue of GMO sugar beets erupted this summer when six farmers leasing open-space land in the so-called “organic mecca” asked to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets. The county commission decided to delay a decision late this summer on whether the county would allow GMO beets on open-space land.

Commissioner Will Toor tells the Boulder Daily Camera that he’s glad they waited. He says: “I would think that we want to let the courts and federal government sort through this before we make a decision on sugar beets.”