Court Orders Uprooting of Monsanto Biotech Sugar Beets

A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction ordering the immediate destruction of 256 acres of genetically engineered sugar beet seedlings planted in Oregon and Arizona in September. Judge Jeffrey White determined that the seedlings had been planted in violation of federal law and regardless of his previous ruling that made planting of GE sugar beets illegal until the U.S. Department of Agriculture completes an Environmental Impact Statement, EIS. Judge White isssued the injunction in a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety on behalf of a coalition of farmers and conservation groups. The lawsuit was filed on September 9, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed it had permitted the seedlings to be planted although a court ruling in August vacated the USDA's deregulation of biotech sugar beets, based on the agency's failure to prepare an EIS...more