Health, Consumer, Environmental, Organic Agriculture, Food Companies, and Farm Groups Join the Call for USDA to reign-in the Biotech Industry

The Center for Food Safety today announced that it delivered more than 20,000 individual comments to the USDA demanding that the agency strengthen oversight of genetically modified (GM) crops to prevent contamination. The Center also delivered two letters on behalf of a wide range of NGOs, farmer associations, and food companies united in their call for USDA to close regulatory loop holes that have allowed GMOs to be planted with minimal government oversight, independent environmental and health testing, or biotech industry accountability. The groups also urged the USDA to freeze approvals of any new GM crops until demonstrable protections are put into place to prevent contamination of seed, crops, and food.

“The proposed USDA rules would virtually ensure that contamination of organic and conventional crops will become even more frequent, and they excuse the USDA from taking any action to remedy such contamination,” said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. “These looser regulations are a boon for a handful of biotech companies and a disaster for family farmers, consumers, and the environment; we must tell the Obama USDA that we want more testing and oversight of genetically engineered crops, not less.”

The public had until yesterday, Monday, June 29th, to register their comments on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed rules weakening oversight of genetically engineered (GE) crops. The new, less stringent rules continue to allow the dangerous practice of producing drugs and industrial chemicals in food crops grown in the open environment, and in many cases even allow biotechnology companies to decide whether their GE crops are regulated at all.

“These regulations will result in more public exposure to untested and unlabeled genetically engineered foods,” continued Kimbrell. “Instead of tightening controls to protect the public and the environment from contamination and harm, what USDA has offered further endangers the public’s right to choose the foods they eat and farmers’ right to their chosen livelihoods.”

Four years ago, the Bush Administration USDA promised stricter oversight of genetically engineered crops, but over time, proposals for improved regulation have been undermined, creating a set of rules that are weaker than the ones they are intended to replace. USDA has advanced these rules for approval without publishing the full Environmental Impact Statement the law requires and without public review of the data needed to make regulatory recommendations.

“President Obama came to Washington promising change, but these rules are business as usual,” Kimbrell concluded. “We call on the Obama Administration to reject the irresponsible Bush ‘anything goes’ biotech policy, and to put in place rules that will create real change in the regulation and oversight of GE crops. We also request a moratorium on commercial planting of any new GE crops until comprehensive regulations are in place.”

The letters can be viewed at:

http://truefoodnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/aphis-rules-sign-on-letter_final.pdfand http://truefoodnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/aphis_organic_final.pdf

CFS’s organizational comments can be viewed at:http://truefoodnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/final-comments_june29_aphis-2008-0023_final.pdf

The Center for Food Safety is national, non-profit, membership organization founded in 1997 to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. On the web at: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org.