Roundup Ready Alfalfa Planting Permanently Prohibited

Center for Food Safety Press Release

This decision marks the first time any GE crop in the U.S. has been halted by a legal process.

On May 3rd, after a lengthy legal process, a California federal circuit judge imposed a permanent injunction on Monsanto's GE alfalfa, engineered to be herbicide (Roundup) resistant. Until the USDA conducts a full Environmental Impact Statement on the crop, further sales of alfalfa seed and planting of the crop are illegal. Judge Breyer also ordered that the seed distributor, Forage Genetics, must make the locations of all current GE alfalfa plantings available to the public on a government website so that growers of organic and conventional alfalfa can test their own crops to determine if there has been contamination.

In calling for the injunction, Judge Breyer noted that contamination of natural and organic alfalfa by the GE variety has already occurred, and noted that "Such contamination is irreparable environmental harm. The contamination cannot be undone."  In a previous preliminary ruling in March, the judge noted that "for those farmers who choose to grow non-genetically engineered alfalfa, the possibility that their crops will be infected with the engineered gene is tantamount to the elimination of all alfalfa; they cannot grow their chosen crop."  Commenting on the agency's refusal to assess this risk and others, the judge noted that "Nothing in NEPA, the relevant regulations, or the caselaw support such a cavalier response."

Monsanto and Forage Genetics, the developers of the GE alfalfa seed, failed to convince the Judge that their interests outweighed the public interest in food safety, freedom to farm natural crops, and environmental protection. In fact, Judge Breyer specifically noted that Monsanto's fear of lost sales "does not outweigh the potential irreparable damage to the environment."

This decision marks the first time any GE crop in the U.S. has been halted by a legal process, and it establishes very important precedent to challenge the flawed regulatory process for these novel organisms and establish the vital link between the environment and the economic wellbeing of non-GE farmers.