Debate over GM sugar beets: US court allows planting and harvest
(17 March 2010) Farmers in the USA will be allowed to
plant GM sugar beets this year as planned and also market the derived sugar. An
injunction filed by several environmental groups to prohibit commercial planting
immediately due to inadequate clarification of cross-pollination risks was
denied by a US court.
An immediate ban on the commercial planting of GM sugar
beets, which have been grown in the USA since 2007, would be economically
unreasonable, said Judge Jeffrey White, of the federal district court in
California. The organisations filing the injunction were too late for
appropriate measures to be taken this planting season. The sugar beet seeds have
already been planted, and it would not be reasonable to "pull them out of the
ground or prevent the harvest from going to market."
In the USA almost all sugar beets are genetically
modified. In 2009 they were planted on 475,000 hectares, producing half the US
domestic sugar supply. An immediate ban on planting would have had a detrimental
effect on the sugar supply and price, White said in his ruling.
Last September Judge White generally accepted the
complaints of environmental and organic farmers' groups.
In a prelimimary decision he ordered the USDA to carry
out an environmental impact assessment on the genetically modified beets. The
plaintiffs were concerned about cross-pollination with conventional beets and
related plant species such as mangold. No measures were ordered by White to be
taken during the 2010 planting season. The court will now conduct a series of
hearings, the first to take place in July 2010.
In the meantime, the groups are suing the USDA with the
aim of retracting the authorisation granted in 2005.
"Now it has finally been clarified that farmers can plant
RoundupReady sugar beets in 2010," said a spokeman for Monsanto. The company
developed the genetically modified sugar beets together with the German plant
breeder KWS Saat. Their resistance to the herbicidal agent  Glyphosat (Roundup)
allow for effective weed management.
Cross-pollination hardly plays a role in sugar beets
since they flower only once every two years, and the beets are harvested after
the first year. Pollen forms only if there is premature flowering (bolting) or
in case of weedy beets. Cross-pollination is basically possible with wild
relatives and weedy beets. In Europe wild beets are contained to just a few
areas.
Commercial planting of GM sugar beets in the EU is currently not authorised.
However, imports of food and feed derived partially or entirely from GM sugar
beets are allowed.
See also on GMO-Compass:
Further information:
| 
![[nach oben springen]](/images/icons/icon_gotop_9x9.gif){kind=icon}