Monsanto's Day in Court

Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety filed suit in the Supreme Court yesterday, asking for a moratorium on planting genetically-modified sugar beets.

Um, yeah, it sounds a little boring at first, but wait!

Turns out that a district court found that the USDA — under Bush, who else? — illegally approved the sugar beets made by Monsanto — who else?

The environmental impact report was lacking any study of how planting genetically engineered sugar beets would affect non-GM and organic beet and related chard crops. GM crops can cross-pollinate with natural crops.

Despite the illegal approval, 90 percent of sugar beets grown in the U.S. — and, consequently, half of our sugar — are already genetically modified to withstand the application of the powerful Monsanto-made herbicide Roundup.

In a parallel ongoing battle over Monsanto's Roundup-Ready alfalfa, an appeals court twice upheld a lower court ruling that planting of the crop should be suspended until a complete environmental impact report was filed. But the corporate-friendly Supreme Court last week agreed to hear the case.

The illegal approvals are still further evidence that the federal government has allowed genetically engineered foods to dominate our food supply with little or no evidence that they are safe or that they can be kept separate from conventional crops.

Monsanto, meanwhile, is also in court battling its competitors over its licensing policies and is facing a Department of Justice investigation into possible antitrust violations. And, not to be forgotten, Change.org is petitioning the FDA to suspend approval of the company's Roundup-Ready corn, which a new study suggests causes organ damage.

Photo credit: Sidi Smail