Consumer groups seek ban on Monsanto sugar beets - Biz Journal

Consumer groups seek ban on Monsanto sugar beets - Biz Journal


Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety attorneys filed court papers this week on behalf of organic seed growers, conservation groups and food safety groups seeking a ban on Monsanto’s genetically engineered sugar beets and sugar beet seeds. The coalition asks for a moratorium on all planting, production and use of the seeds and beets until a federal court can further consider the government’s deregulation of the crop. In September, a federal court in California ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to adequately study the environmental and economic risks of Monsanto's sugar beets and ordered federal officials to conduct a more stringent review of the crop.

The USDA approved Monsanto’s Roundup Ready sugar beets without properly assessing how the genetically modified seeds contaminate conventional crops, increase weed resistance to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide and limit both farmers’ options to grow conventional and consumer choice to buy products with sugar not derived from genetically engineered seeds, Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety allege. Garrett Kasper, a spokesman for Monsanto, called the injunction request "inappropriate and unwarranted."


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