Did you know?
- 93% of the alfalfa planted by U.S. farmers (currently non-GMO) is grown without the use of any herbicides at all.
- 23 million pounds of toxic herbicides will be sprayed in communities across the country, for the first time ever, and annually thereafter, if USDA allows open and widespread planting of GE alfalfa.
- 90% of all GE alfalfa seeds are owned by the world’s largest biotech and pesticide company, Monsanto – the original manufacturer of Agent Orange (DDT) and PCBs.
- 90% of all GE crops are designed to withstand the direct spraying of Monsanto’s toxic weed killer, Roundup, and not to improve nutrition or taste or to reduce pesticide use.
- Bees can carry GE alfalfa pollen 5 miles or more, contaminating non-GE hay fields along the way, including organic hay which is the main feed for organic dairy cows.
- Approval of GE alfalfa was overturned in federal court because USDA failed to analyze GE contamination risks to conventional and organic alfalfa, the effects of weed resistance and increased herbicide use, and the economic impacts of GE alfalfa on all farmers, as required by law.
In March 2011, the Center for Food Safety (CFS), Beyond Pesticides, Cornucopia Institute, California Farmers Union, Dakota Resources Council, Geertson Seed Farms, National Family Farm Coalition, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Sierra Club, Trask Family Seeds and Western Organization of Resource Councils filed a lawsuit against USDA to stop the imminent planting of GMO alfalfa.
Chronology of Events
2004: Monsanto Company and Forage Genetics International (FGI) petitioned USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to deregulate two GE alfalfa crops, (J101 and J163) genetically engineered to resist the weed killer, glyphosate. In response, APHIS received 663 public comments, 520 of which opposed deregulation.
2005: On June 27, 2005 (70 FR 36917-36919, Docket No. 04-085-3) APHIS announced its decision to grant nonregulated status to Monsanto and FGI lines J101 and J163. Despite the many public comments indicating that Glyphosate-tolerant alfalfa (GT Alfalfa) may significantly affect the quality of the human environment, the decision was made without the benefit of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
2006: Center for Food Safety (CFS) along with farmers and other environmental and consumer organizations filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Plant Protection Act (PPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in approving GT Alfalfa.
2007–2009: On February 13, 2007, Judge Breyer of the Federal District Court, Northern District of California, granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs and ordered APHIS to prepare an EIS. This was the first time that the U.S. government had ever undertaken such analysis for any GE crop, and it took the courts to make that happen. As a result of this legal victory, unregulated planting of new GE alfalfa stands was prohibited. This CFS legal victory has also withstood two appeals by Monsanto in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2008 and again in 2009.
2010: In March 2010, more than 244,000 people submitted comments to the USDA critiquing the substance and conclusions of its Draft EIS on GE Alfalfa. In response to USDA’s Draft EIS, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), joined by 49 other representatives and five other senators, sent a letter to Secretary Vilsack asking USDA to retain the regulated status of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. In their letter, endorsed by over 50 businesses and organizations the lawmakers assert that the draft USDA findings about genetically engineered alfalfa cannot be justified.
In addition, more than 300 public interest organizations, farmers, dairies, retailers and organic food producers from the U.S. and Canada delivered a strongly worded letter to USDA, calling upon it to deny approval of Monsanto’s genetically engineered, Roundup Ready alfalfa (GE alfalfa).Not deterred by several failed court attempts, Monsanto took its case to the only court left—the U.S. Supreme Court. In April 2010, the Supreme Court heard the case and we were again victorious because the Court maintained the ban on the planting of GE alfalfa, pending a deregulation decision.
2011: January 27th USDA announces a full deregulation of RR alfalfa. March 18 CFS files suit against USDA.
GE Contamination of Organic and Conventional Alfalfa
Farmers grow alfalfa on over 20 million acres, spanning every state. As our nation’s fourth largest crop, alfalfa is a perennial crop that remains in the ground for 3 to 6 years. Wild or feral alfalfa plants are commonplace and grow in many locations far away from the domesticated alfalfa fields from which they originated. Known as the “queen of forages,” alfalfa hay is the primary pasture feed for dairy cows, conventional and organic alike.
Because alfalfa is pollinated by bees that fly and cross-pollinate between fields many miles apart, GE alfalfa contamination of conventional, organic, and feral alfalfa is inevitable in regions where alfalfa is grown. Alfalfa seed is also spread by wind and animals and during the handling and transport of seeds and plants.Other sources of GE contamination include the mixing of genetically engineered seed with non-genetically engineered seed, improper seed cleaning, weather events and human error. The common practices of land leasing, and contract hay farming routinely result in the harvest and transport of significantly overripe hay crops filled with seeds not intended for planting and with the potential to be released into the environment. Widespread commercial planting of GE alfalfa threatens organic dairies most. That is because organic hay is the main source of forage for certified organic diary cows and a requirement for the production of certified organic milk products. The organic sector is the most vibrant part of U.S. agriculture, now a 26 billion dollar a year industry and growing 15 to 20% annually. Contamination from GE alfalfa presents a serious problem for organic and conventional farmers whose livelihood and reputation depends upon the ability to grow non-GE crops. It also raises important concerns for consumers who want to eat foods without GE ingredients and grown without using GE technology.
Contamination from GE alfalfa has already occurred. After the alfalfa industry converted only 1% to GE alfalfa, researchers found that contamination had already begun. Testing showed that the foundation seed fields of the Dairyland company in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming were contaminated, and so were the seed fields of Cal/West in California. Over two years later, testing showed that the contamination is getting worse. According to the Cal/West Seeds’ Winter 2010 Newsletter, 12% of the 200+ lots of non-GE alfalfa seed tested positive for RR alfalfa gene, compared to 3% in 2008. Researchers concluded that: “It is becoming clear that this gene or any gene can easily spread and that we are going to have to take extraordinary measures when producing foundation seed and commercial seed for GMO sensitive markets.”
While the government continues to argue that the potential for GE contamination is unlikely and inconsequential, industry data such as those provided by Cal/West demonstrates that this is simply false. Increasing evidence of inevitable GE contamination continues to grow:
“Recent escape of GM sugar beets into compost sold to homeowners illustrates the potential for products to move outside of their intended market. Sugar beets are . . . wind pollinated and were thought to be well controlled by the growers using the product. Despite best management practices, escape of the transgenes occurred.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a recent draft of a Biological Opinion on the effects of Roundup Ready creeping bentgrass, prepared pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, noted: “Recent escape of GM sugar beets into compost sold to homeowners illustrates the potential for products to move outside of their intended market. Sugar beets are . . . wind pollinated and were thought to be well controlled by the growers using the product. Despite best management practices, escape of the transgenes occurred.”
Star Link corn contamination showed how much damage a GE crop can do to the agricultural economy. StarLink is a variety of corn genetically engineered to produce the Cry9C insecticidal toxin to kill certain corn pests. Due to the concerns of leading allergists advising the EPA that this toxin might cause food allergies, the EPA approved StarLink in 1998 only for animal feed and industrial uses such as ethanol production, but not for human consumption. The EPA had a binding agreement with the developer of StarLink, Aventis CropScience. StarLink corn was grown for only three years, from 1998 to 2000, on at most 341,000 acres, or 0.43% of total U.S. corn acreage (year 2000). Despite the limited acreage planted of StarLink and the conditions attaching to its cultivation, testing initiated by public interest groups and subsequently conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that over 300 corn products in grocery stores around the country were contaminated with StarLink. The USDA found StarLink contaminating 9- 22% of grain samples.
Genetically engineered “Liberty Link” ( LL60) rice was grown only in limited-acreage field tests , which includes confinement recommendations. It had not been grown at all for several years, but contamination of the US rice supply was detected several years later at low levels that have caused economic harm to the US rice industry. At least one source of contamination occurred at Louisiana State University where lead scientists said they had considerably exceeded APHIS confinement recommendations.
Increase in Pesticide Use
Even if half of all U.S. alfalfa acres are planted with GE alfalfa, 10.5 million acres of alfalfa would be consequently converted to GE–comprising nearly 10% of the total glyphosate tolerant (GT) crop acreage.
Alfalfa is a perennial crop that covers the ground uninterruptedly for the life of the stand, leaving little or no room for weeds to survive. Alfalfa is also a vigorous, dense plant, generally out-competing weeds. Alfalfa’s conversion to an herbicide-dependant crop system will promote glyphosate-resistant noxious weeds and alter the environmentally friendly farming and nutrient building qualities of alfalfa.
USDA claims that as GT alfalfa is adopted, glyphosate herbicide will replace other, more toxic forms of weed control currently used in alfalfa. Yet since the introduction of herbicide tolerant, GE crops, there has been more than a six-fold increase in glyphosate use, between 1992 and 2002 alone, making the herbicide the most used in the U.S. In fact, only 7%of alfalfa hay farmers apply pesticides to their crops. Therefore, GT alfalfa will dramatically increase Roundup use without significantly displacing other herbicides. The impact of this dramatic increase of the Roundup Ready crop system on the environment is significant.
Weed resistance to glyphosate is well documented, and is an increasingly expensive and environmentally harmful problem faced by US farmers. Increasing glyphosate-tolerant crops systems can and will increase the instances of glyphosate-tolerant weeds, causing farmers to use more toxic herbicides than the glyphosate that is currently available to them. USDA admits that GE alfalfa will require more toxic herbicides like 2,4-D and dicamba for taking out old stands. Yet, the Agency remains silent on the cumulative effects of the increased use of more toxic pesticides in response to weed resistance to glyphosate.
CFS believes that the only option to protect organic and conventional alfalfa growers and dairies that rely upon non-GE alfalfa hay to feed livestock is to deny any approval of GE alfalfa and to establish a moratorium.
“We in the farm sector are dissatisfied but not surprised at the lack of courage from USDA to prohibit Roundup Ready alfalfa and defend family farmers.”
~ Plaintiff farmer Pat Trask, Trask Family Seeds“Approving the unrestricted planting of GE alfalfa is a blatant case of the USDA serving one form of agriculture at the expense of all others. If this decision is not remedied, the result will be lost livelihoods for organic dairy farmers, loss of choice for farmers and consumers, and no transparency about GE contamination of our foods.”
~ Plaintiff Ed Maltby, Executive Director of the Northeast Alliance of Organic Dairy Producers“USDA’s review is inaccurate and completely failed to consider critical issues. The decision to deregulate Roundup Ready alfalfa opens the door to widespread transgenic contamination, costing farmers their markets, reputation and ability to grow natural varieties.”
~ Plaintiff farmer Phil Geertson, Geertson Seed Farms.“We are an organic, grass-fed beef operation relying on alfalfa in pasture mix and for winter feed. GE alfalfa means contamination of all alfalfa seeds within a few years. Our options include giving up organic production at great revenue loss or finding another forage at great cost increase.”
~ Organic beef producer Jim Munsch from Wisconsin.“USDA has once again failed to provide adequate oversight of a biotech crop. This reckless approval flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that GE alfalfa threatens the rights of farmers and consumers, as well as significant harm to the environment. APHIS has refused to apply and enforce the law and instead has chosen to bow to the wishes of the biotech industry.”
~ Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food SafetyFor references on figures used, see CFS’s legal comments here, and scientific comments here
