Tell Tom Vilsack to Deny Approval of Monsanto's GMO Alfalfa

by Sarah Parsons · 2010-06-14 12:01:00 UTC
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If agriculture were a schoolyard, Monsanto would be that bully who just won't quit. The GMO giant consistently creates biotech seeds and toxic herbicides with blatant disregard for organic farmers and the environment. And what's worse, the U.S. government lets the company get away with it.

In the latest Monsanto misdeed, the USDA is poised to approve the company's genetically modified, Roundup Ready alfalfa. But not if Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Peter DeFazio can help it: The two elected officials wrote a "Dear Colleague" letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, asking him to maintain the ban on GMO alfalfa. Members of Congress have until June 16th to sign the letter, and you can ask your senators and representative to do so by signing our petition.

If you need further proof that GMO alfalfa is a bad idea, let's examine the historical evidence. Monsanto started making GMO corn, soybean, and cotton seeds about 20 years ago. The biotech seeds were designed to resist Monsanto's Roundup Ready herbicide, so farmers could spray their fields at will, wiping out weeds while crops remained intact. Things worked well for awhile, but as usual, Monsanto couldn't outsmart nature. Weeds quickly evolved to develop resistance to Roundup Ready, sparking a huge outbreak of "superweeds" that decimate the country's corn, soybean, and cotton crops. Now farmers are using even more toxic pesticides to kill off the weeds, which is harmful to people and the environment.

Not only can Roundup Ready herbicides lead to superweeds, GMO crops oftentimes contaminate their non-biotech counterparts through breeding, propagation, or seed processing. This is a huge problem for organic farmers, who pride themselves on cultivating pure, un-monkeyed-with fruits and veggies. If the USDA approves GMO alfalfa, the seeds could cross-pollinate with non-GMO alfalfa seeds, causing irreparable damage and threatening organic farmers' livelihoods.

It's time to tell Monsanto to put away its biotech seeds and toxic herbicides and stop endangering the existence of organic crops. Monsanto poses a threat to organic farmers, the environment, and human health. Sign Credo Action's petition asking your senators and representative to sign onto the Leahy-DeFazio letter.

Photo credit: USDA.gov

Sarah Parsons is Change.org's Sustainable Food Editor. Her work has appeared in Popular Science, OnEarth, Audubon and Plenty.
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