Is the White House Behind GE Alfalfa's Approval?

In a move that devastated sustainable foodies everywhere, Secretary Tom Vilsack announced last week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would fully deregulate Monsanto's Roundup Ready, genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. Barring intervention from President Obama, farmers will likely begin planting the Frankencrop in the next couple months.

The announcement came as quite a shock to many environmentalists. While some organizations like Food & Water Watch and Change.org were pushing the USDA to completely block GE alfalfa, many folks believed that Vilsack would issue a partial deregulation of the crop, a "coexistence" measure that would limit where GE alfalfa could be grown geographically in order to prevent the contamination of organic and non-GE crops. Instead, Vilsack issued a full deregulation, allowing any farmer, anywhere to start planting GE alfalfa.

So what exactly prompted Vilsack to abandon his "coexistence" plan and pull the trigger on full deregulation? Some folks are saying that the pressure came from President Obama himself.

As Grist's Tom Philpott recently wrote, Wall Street Journal ag reporters, Bill Tomson and Scott Kilman, blamed Obama's review of "overly burdensome" business regulations for GE alfalfa's approval. The reporters wrote that "The Obama administration Thursday abandoned a proposal to restrict planting of genetically engineered alfalfa, the latest proposal shelved as part of the administration's review of 'burdensome' regulation."

Sure, the reporters could have been making an assumption, but Food Safety News also reports evidence that the White House was to blame for Vilsack's giving GE alfalfa the green light. "Sources familiar with the negotiations at USDA, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Food Safety News they believe the White House asked Vilsack to drop proposed regulations so the administration would appear more friendly to big business," wrote Helena Bottemiller. If this is true, I've got news for the White House: Believe me, you appear downright welcoming to major agrochemical companies like Monsanto, and have for some time.

The musings of Wall Street Journal reporters and anonymous sources do not iron-clad evidence make, but the situation definitely smells seriously fishy. What's worse is that it doesn't bode well for sustainable foodies if the White House was behind the GE alfalfa decision — President Obama is the only one with the power to overturn Vilsack's full deregulation of the crop. If he was Vilsack's puppet-master in the first place, it's unlikely that he will go against the USDA's decision.

Obama and Vilsack may be concerned that blocking GE alfalfa would be "burdensome" to poor, little Monsanto, but deregulating the crop is absolutely "overly burdensome" to the organic food industry. Experts agree that GE alfalfa will undoubtedly contaminate organic and non-GE alfalfa through pollen transfer, destroying these natural varieties — the USDA's own environmental impact statement said as much! Because organic crop varieties can't contain any altered genes, GE alfalfa's approval will likely crush organic alfalfa farmers and cripple the organic meat and dairy industries. Farmers rely heavily on organic alfalfa to feed their beef and dairy cattle — rogue, GE alfalfa would therefore not only contaminate organic alfalfa, but organic meat and dairy, too.

Small, organic meat and dairy farmers already face an uphill battle to get their wares to market. Deregulation of GE alfalfa just might be their death knell. It's hard to believe that the Obama administration wouldn't consider this situation to be "overly burdensome."

I'll admit that things look bleak, but the fight isn't over yet. Non-profits, organic farmers and food companies, and notable foodies like Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser are ready to put up a fight over GE alfalfa's deregulation. You can join them by signing Food & Water Watch's petition asking President Obama to protect organics and block the approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa.

Photo credit: Muhammad via Flickr