It should be no surprise that Monsanto's PR machine is working hard to spin the truth in this morning's decision in the first-ever Supreme Court case on genetically engineered crops (Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms). Despite what the biotech seed giant is claiming, today's ruling isn't close to the victory they were hoping for.
The 7-1 decision issued today by the Supreme Court was on the appeal of the Center for Food Safety's (CFS) successful suit, which resulted in a ban on GMO alfalfa. And, while the High Court ruled in favor of Monsanto by reversing an injunction that was part of the lower court's decision, more importantly, it also ruled that the ban on GMO alfalfa remains intact, and that the planting and sale of GMO alfalfa remains illegal.
This point, which seems to be lost in some news reports, is actually a huge victory for the Center for Food Safety and - most importantly - for the farmers and consumers who we represent.
The Supreme Court ruled that an injunction against planting was unnecessary since, under lower courts' rulings, Roundup Ready Alfalfa became a regulated item and illegal to plant. In other words, the injunction was "overkill' because our victory in lower federal court determined that USDA violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws when it approved Roundup Ready alfalfa. The court felt that voiding the USDA's decision to make the crop legally available for sale was enough.
A different ruling could have had far-reaching ramifications that might have extended beyond our borders, affecting the health and status of world markets for U.S. alfalfa, and impacting the fastest growing sector of the US agriculture market - organic. But the court clearly saw that, and opted instead to rule very narrowly.
And yet, Monsanto is out there in a public statement saying that they've won a great victory. They claim that they're ready to sell Roundup Ready Alfalfa seeds now, and that they hope that their farmers should be able to plant by fall 2010. It's a canny statement, but neither of those potential situations is by any means possible at this point. The bottom line: the ban on planting Roundup Ready Alfalfa still stands.
The Center is victorious in this case in several other ways: most importantly, the High Court did not rule on several arguments presented by Monsanto about the application of federal environmental law. As a result, the Court did not make any ruling that could have been hurtful to National Environmental Policy Act or any other environmental laws. In addition, the Court opinion supported the Center's argument that gene flow is a serious environmental and economic threat. This means that genetic contamination from GMOs can still be considered harm under the law, both from an environmental and economic perspective.
This Court opinion is in many ways a victory for the environment, the Center for Food Safety, for farmers and for consumers and a defeat for Monsanto's hopes of a green light. To represent this opinion in any other way is just spin.
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False. Farmers CAN continue planting Monsanto's GE alfalfa. Kimbrell's case-readi
"...the High Court...ru
Mr. Kimbrell is hallucinat
The Court ruled that the District Court abused its discretion by enjoining APHIS from effecting a partial deregulati
Among the Court's clarificat
"...the [vacating] of APHIS's deregulati
"Virtually
The Supreme Court's opinion will constrain any prudent District Judge not to restrain further sales or planting, since in Monsanto v. Geerston Seed Farms, the Supreme Court held that the District Court abused its discretion by prohibitin
WASHINGTON (AP)-- The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a nationwide ban on the planting of geneticall
In a 7-1 vote Monday, the court reversed a federal appeals court ruling that had prohibited Monsanto Co. from selling alfalfa seeds because they are resistant to the popular weed killer Roundup.
The U.S. Agricultur
A federal judge in San Francisco had barred the planting of geneticall
St. Louis-base
"We agree that the District Court's injunction against planting went too far," said Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion.
I wish I could see things as optimistic
e.g.
truefoodno
a exellent book to read " Seeds of Deception " : Jeffrey M. Smith
"This powerful exposé could spark the revolution that this topic deserves."
- Hunter Lovins, coauthor of Natural Capitalism
"This is a brilliant book which combines shrewd dissection of the true nature of GM technology
- From the UK edition foreword by Michael Meacher, former UK environmen
10 page summary of the book: .wanttokno
in Europe there's a " we're not lab rats " campaighn to ban GMOs :.bangmfoo
Moonspinne
The high court seems to be limiting the injunction as a remedy but upholding the agency's ban.
www.latime
Don't believe anything you hear from the Center for Food Safety. It is a corporate front sponsored by agricultur
In addition, this group has absolutely no connection to the U.S. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, which is a legitimate organizati
Plants reproduce naturally as do animals. We do not need GMOs to
infest, infect and otherwise destroy other plants.
This planet and all it's species do NOT need GMOs nor cloned animals
When are we going to collective
to have a clean and natural planet???