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USDA must complete gmo-sugarbeet EIS

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an order that the USDA must complete an Environmental Impact Statement on the planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets.

USDA deregulated the planting of the genetically modified sugar beets in 2005. A group led by the Center for Food Safety filed suit in January of 2008 challenging the deregulation charging the pollen could contaminate non-gmo varieties. The court ruled for the plaintiffs in 2010, voiding the USDA authorization and ordering an Environmental Impact Statement be completed. This was Monsanto’s appeal of that ruling. The Ag Department projects the EIS will be completed in mid-2012.

More than 90 percent of the sugar beets grown in North America in 2010 were Roundup-Ready. Citing a lack of non-gmo seed, USDA ruled to allow the planting of the Roundup-Ready beets in 2011 and 2012 with certain stipulations. A legal challenge to that ruling is pending in federal court in Washington D.C.