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US Congress moves to 'protect' GM crop plantings

Nature Biotechnology volume 31, page 479 (2013)Cite this article

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To deregulate a crop, the USDA bases its decision solely on its plant pest status (as laid out in the Plant Protection Act). However, the National Environment Policy Act requires all federal agencies to assess the environmental impact of any action they take, defined broadly to include economic and human impacts. An environmental assessment can have two outcomes: it can have a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) or it could result in further study and an environmental impact study (EIS). The environmental assessment can take months, an EIS years. The USDA found both GM alfalfa and GM sugar beet to have no significant impact on the environment, but these outcomes were challenged successfully in court by the Washington, DC–based Center for Food Safety, and other farm and environmental groups.

As a result of a court challenge, planting of Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa was halted for four years, while the USDA performed its EIS, only to find no environmental impact (Nat. Biotechnol. 29, 179–181, 2011). That finding was challenged again, but arguments made before the same court (the 9th circuit court) failed to convince the panel to overturn the deregulation of the crop. The FONSI for sugar beets was also contested and the courts again found the environmental assessment done by the USDA inadequate (Nat. Biotechnol. 27, 970, 2009). In this case, farmers had planted a crop, so the agency granted them a temporary permit (with mitigating steps to protect the environment from any potential impact). The new provision would allow the US Secretary of Agriculture to immediately issue such a permit upon request—that is, farmers would be free from worry about potential financial loss after planting an approved crop in good faith.

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  1. Senior Editor, Nature Biotechnology,

    Laura DeFrancesco

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  1. Laura DeFrancesco
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DeFrancesco, L. US Congress moves to 'protect' GM crop plantings. Nat Biotechnol 31, 479 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0613-479

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