NOTE: Take action details at end.
---
---
Flood Advisory! GE seeds clog pipeline
Marcia Ishii-Eiteman
PANNA , 26 July 2012
http://www.panna.org/blog/flood-advisory-ge-seeds-clog-pipeline
Two weeks ago, while many Americans were focused on early July barbeques and
fireworks, the pipeline of genetically engineered crops awaiting USDA approval
suddenly swelled to bursting.
With public opposition to GE foods and crops growing by leaps and bounds (and
Prop 37 - CA's ballot initiative to label GE foods - garnering unprecedented
popular support), the Big 6 pesticide corporations are rushing to quickly ram a
dozen new GE crops through the pipeline. Nine of them are engineered for use
with toxic herbicides.
Back in December, when Dow quietly inserted its insidious 2,4-D corn into the
USDA regulatory process, we warned that this was the first in an onslaught of
new and very damaging industry products that would be coming our way: seeds
designed by the Big 6 to be used with increasingly toxic weedkillers.
Thousands of you joined me - along with 370,000 family farmers, workers,
doctors, nurses and moms and dads around the country - in standing up to Dow and
saying "No" to putting corporate profit over the health and livelihood of
Americans.
Dirty (GE) Dozen
PAN coined the phrase "Dirty Dozen" back in the 1980s to describe our founding
campaign against the worst pesticides of the day. Thirty years later, many of
these are now banned around the world. But as the Big 6 pesticide corporations
seek other means to drive up pesticide sales, we now have a new Dirty Dozen to
battle: insecticidal and herbicide-tolerant GE seeds.
The USDA's official register now lists 12 proposed GE crops under consideration
(on top of 2,4-D corn), proposed by Dow, Monsanto, DuPont (Pioneer), Bayer,
Syngenta and BASF among others.
Nine of the new GE crops in the pipeline will be reviewed under USDA's newly
devised "fast-track" regulatory process, which aims to reduce approval time for
GE crops from the current average of three years (not fast enough for industry!)
to just over a year. These include corn, soybean and canola engineered to be
resistant to a suite of herbicides including 2,4-D, glyphosate, glufosinate and
imidazolinone. (Rather ridiculously, one of the GE crops -an apple - has
actually been engineered to turn less brown when cut. Talk about spurious
endeavors!)
Rounding out the dozen, the remaining three GE crops under consideration include
a 2,4-D soybean from Dow (described by Tom Philpott as "the gnarliest soybean
ever"), a soybean that Bayer has engineered to be used with the cancer-causing
herbicide isoxaflutole, and an insecticidal corn from Syngenta. These crops are
in the final stages of review under USDA's old regulatory process, which means
that the time to express our strong opposition to them is right now.
USDA is accepting public comment on each of the 12 GE crops through September
11. Stay tuned for upcoming PAN Alerts on how to oppose the Dirty GE Dozen as a
whole.
Biotech riders trample science and courts
As if the swollen pipeline of a dozen new GE seeds weren't bad enough, industry
allies in Congress are simultaneously threatening sweeping policy changes that
would override any semblance of objective scientific and judicial review. Buried
deep in thousands of pages of the Farm Bill - signed off on by the House
Agricultural Committee - are three riders (Sec. 10011, 10013, and 10014). These
proposals would - if approved - gut the USDA's already weak regulatory process
for GE seeds.
As explained in a July 10 letter to House Agriculture Committee leadership
signed by PAN and 40 other organizations, these riders provide multiple
mechanisms for fast-tracking backdoor approval of GE crops. They also sidestep
any analysis of the health, economic, livelihood and other real-life impacts of
GE crops on our farms and communities, and would establish a highly
controversial national policy of allowing transgenic contamination of our crops
and foods.
A fourth rider in the House Agricultural Appropriations Bill would enable USDA
to permit continued planting of GE crops, even when a court of law has ruled
that such crops were approved illegally.
Demand democracy
The cynicism with which House representatives appear ready to throw our judicial
system under the bus, dismantle the principle of separation of powers
established in our constitution, and abandon rigorous scientific review - all
for the sake of fast-tracking industry's latest GE products - is simply
stunning.
Take action » Urge your Representative to reject the proposed biotech riders,
stand up to pressure from the Big 6 pesticide corporations and defend our
precious democracy.
http://www.panna.org/issues/related-actions/dont-let-monsanto-co-fast-track-ge-crops
|
| The Genetic Engineering News is produced by Thomas Wittman and EcoFarm, and supported by a generous donation from the Newman's Own Foundation. Please pass this vital information on. If you would like to get on this list go to www.eco-farm.org and select Newsletters. |
