Activists sue to block plantings of Monsanto-developed sugar beets
A consortium of organic and environmental activists filed suit Wednesday to derail the first commercial planting this spring of genetically modified sugar beets, developed by Creve Coeur-based Monsanto Co.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleges federal regulators approved the biotech crop for planting after a "cursory and wholly inadequate" environmental assessment. The plaintiffs are seeking a broader and much more lengthy study by the Agriculture Department — and a ban on planting Roundup Ready sugar beets while it is conducted.
That same tactic succeeded last year in stalling Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa, which had been sold by Forage Genetics Inc. A federal judge in San Francisco banned plantings after March 30 and ordered the Agriculture Department to begin a full-scale study of the crop’s impact on the environment and alfalfa markets. That process is under way; in the meantime, Monsanto is appealing the ruling.
Both the alfalfa and sugar beet crops are genetically modified to withstand applications of glyphosate herbicide, which Monsanto sells as Roundup. It is the same technology widely used in soybeans, corn and cotton, allowing growers to spray chemical weed-killers more easily and fewer times each season.
The plaintiffs are the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds and the Sierra Club no teletrack payday loans. They say use of Roundup Ready technology is contributing to the development of glyphosate-resistant weeds, and that biotech sugar beets could accidentally cross-pollinate with organic and table varieties.
"Monsanto is confident in the U.S. regulatory process," said spokesman Darrin Wallis. The company is assessing the lawsuit and could not yet comment on what action, if any, it will take in response.
Wallis noted that regulators in Canada, Mexico and Japan also have approved Roundup Ready sugar beets.
Those countries are the biggest importers of sugar processed from U.S. sugar beets, though 97 percent of the crop is used domestically. Sugar beets are grown annually on about 1.3 million acres by about 10,000 American farmers, and account for about half of the U.S. sugar supply.
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