CFS is pleased to announce that California’s first state bill on genetically engineered crops has become law! On Saturday Sept. 27, Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 541.
Under this law, farmers that are unknowingly contaminated by GE crops in California are now protected from all kinds of liability, and Monsanto must now use a protocol to investigate farmers and sample their crops that involves state notification and obtaining the express permission of the farmer. Working with the Genetic Engineering Policy Project, CFS was one of the lead organizations sponsoring the bill, and our attorneys worked tirelessly on crafting the bill language so it would provide the strongest protections possible to farmers.
“We’re pleased to see that this bill will give farmers new protections from legal implications related to GE crops,” said Rebecca Spector, West Coast Director for CFS. “While it is a compromise, it’s still an important step in the right direction.”
The California bill is one of only a handful of state bills that have any restrictions on GE whatsoever. Of the other three that address farmer liability protections (Indiana, North Dakota and South Dakota), California’s provides the broadest protections.
AB 541 protects California farmers who have not been able to prevent the inevitable – the drift of GE pollen or seed onto their land and the subsequent contamination of non-GE crops. Farmers with crops that become contaminated by patented seeds or pollen have been the target of harassing lawsuits brought by biotech patent holders, most notoriously Monsanto. Further, if their contaminated crops cause harm to other farmers, the environment or consumers, they have not been protected from that liability. AB 541 provides protections for farmers from such liability. The bill also establishes a mandatory crop sampling protocol to level the playing field when biotech companies investigate alleged patent or contract violations.
AB 541 was sponsored by a thirteen-member coalition, the Genetic Engineering Policy Project, and includes the following organizations and businesses: California Certified Organic Farmers, California Church IMPACT, Center for Food Safety, Center for Environmental Health, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Earthbound Farm, Ecological Farming Association, Environment California, Good Earth Natural Foods, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, Oakland Institute, Ocean Beach People’s Organic Food Co-op, Pesticide Action Network North America, and United Natural Foods, Inc.
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
