QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The coexistence of Roundup Ready plants and organic is well-known. Roundup Ready soybeans, corn and canola all co-exist." - Andrew Burchett, public affairs manager for Monsanto in St. Louis

GM WATCH comment: That will be why organic farmers in Canada had to take Monsanto to court to try and get compensation for losing organic canola as a crop due to GM contamination.

http://www.saskorganic.com/oapf/farm.html

And it's not just organic farmers who've been suffering. The problems of conventional non-GM farmers like Percy Schmeiser are legendary. According to the Canadian agricultural scientist E. Ann Clark, "it's doubtful whether there's a farm anywhere in western Canada that does not have Monsanto Roundup Ready canola seed in its soil."

http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/farmingtotalitarianism.htm

GM canola's even been found growing wild around ports in Japan - a country where there's no GM canola cultivation at all! - thanks purely to spillage of Canadian grain during transportion from the ports.

http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5360

EXTRACT: An independent seed grower and organic farmer, Schmaltz discontinued his sprouting [alfalfa] seed sales because the "expense of testing lies on me."

He said he has to prove that his seed is not contaminated by pollen from Roundup Ready plants. "Alfalfa is a perennial and is open-pollinated," he said. "And there is the liability issue. There is no insurance for it."

He said the possibility of contamination from Roundup Ready alfalfa is "devastating the organic market, which is growing."

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Group wants to halt herbicide-resistant alfalfa seed
Jim Gransbery
Billings Gazette, February 21 2007 http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/02/21/news/state/20-alfalfa.txt

A coalition of farmers, environmentalists and food safety organizations plans to ask a federal judge in California to halt the sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa seed, the group's lawyer said Tuesday.

The request follows a decision released two weeks ago in which U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to follow environmental law before approving the genetically modified forage.

Breyer asked parties to the suit for proposals for remedies after he found that the USDA should have completed an environmental impact statement before giving its go-ahead for the crop in 2005. The proposed remedies are due Monday.

"The USDA approval is vacated" by the judge's decision, said Joseph Mendelson, an attorney for the Center for Food Safety in Washington, D.C. "So any new sales of seed and hay should be halted," he said. As for what to do with stands of the perennial already in the ground, Mendelson said, "It is hard to speculate. It is difficult to halt a harvest."

In Montana and Wyoming, a decision to stop sales could directly affect seed producers and seed businesses.

The Center for Food Safety represented itself and the co-plaintiffs in the suit, including the Western Organization of Resource Councils, which has headquarters in Billings. WORC is a coalition that includes the Northern Plains Resource Council and similar organizations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and Colorado.

Mendelson was asked if Roundup Ready alfalfa posed any threat to animal or human health or whether the suit focused on environmental and economic consequences.

"Both," he said. "At this point on alfalfa we are unable to know (health threats) because USDA has not done an EIS."

Millions of acres of Roundup Ready soybeans, corn and canola are planted each year in the United States and are consumed by animals and humans.

Genetic modification, as compared with hybridization or cross-breeding, involves inserting genes from one kind of an organism into the genes of an unrelated organism. Roundup Ready seeds contain genetic material that makes the plants resistant to the herbicide Roundup, thus reducing the costs of tilling and weed control. Monsanto Co., which produces Roundup and Roundup Ready seeds, discontinued its research plots of spring wheat varieties in Montana in 2004. The company said at the time that there were better business opportunities for its genetically modified strains of corn, cotton and oilseeds.

Monsanto and Forage Genetics of Nampa, Idaho, a partner in the development of the alfalfa strain, were not party to the case in California but are affected by the results of Breyer's decision.

"We are working with seed producers and farmers," said Andrew Burchett, public affairs manager for Monsanto in St. Louis, Mo. "And we will work with USDA in seeing the regulatory requirements are satisfied. There is an extensive dossier already" on Roundup Ready alfalfa.

Approved in Canada, Japan

He noted that Canada and Japan have ruled Roundup Ready alfalfa safe.

Jose Arias, of Forage Genetics, said he had no comment when informed that the Center for Food Safety intended to seek a halt of the sale of the seed.

Burchett said the issue is procedural.

"The coexistence of Roundup Ready plants and organic is well-known. Roundup Ready soybeans, corn and canola all co-exist."

Blaine Schmaltz, of Rugby, N.D., rejects that argument.

An independent seed grower and organic farmer, Schmaltz discontinued his sprouting seed sales because the "expense of testing lies on me."

He said he has to prove that his seed is not contaminated by pollen from Roundup Ready plants. "Alfalfa is a perennial and is open-pollinated," he said. "And there is the liability issue. There is no insurance for it."

Schmaltz was a co-plaintiff in the su