CALIFORNIANS FOR GE-FREE AGRICULTURE NEWSLETTER No. 25, JUNE 2007

IN THIS ISSUE

NEWS:

• Pharmaceutical GE Rice in Kansas
• Arkansas GE Rice Field Trial
• GE Alfalfa Banned

TAKE ACTION:

• Take Action on rBGH
• Help build the California GE-Free Network

NEWS

Pharmaceutical GE Rice in Kansas

On May 16, the USDA approved a large-scale "field trial" permit for Ventria Biosciences to produce GE rice altered with human genes to produce drugs that the FDA has not yet approved. Ventria has proposed using the rice-extracted protein drugs to treat infants with diarrhea, and as additives in infant formulas, yogurt, granola bars, and sports drinks, among other uses.

The permit was granted despite receiving at least 20,000 comments in opposition from citizens, scientists, farming and rice groups and only 29 comments in support. The permit allows cultivation in the Junction City, Kansas area of up to 3,200 acres of the drug rice. This is the same rice that Ventria attempted to plant in California and Missouri in 2004 and 2005, but were prevented from doing by rice farmers and broad citizen opposition.

"We have concluded that these field releases [for the GE rice] will not present a risk of introducing or disseminating a plant pest," reads an excerpt from the USDA's notice of the permit approval. It also concluded that extreme weather events are rare and unlikely to occur in the area of the field trial. The decision came a week after tornadoes in the Kansas River Valley and heavy rains caused severe flooding in east-central Kansas, including floodwaters in an area which passes just a mile from one of the proposed planting sites.

Arkansas GE Rice Field Trial

According to a June 19th story in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Bayer CropScience is conducting a new field trial on one of the varieties of their Liberty Link rice that last year contaminated vast quantities of U.S. Southern long grain rice and wrecked economic havoc on that industry.

The reporter writes, "The company whose genetically engineered rice is at the center of an ongoing government investigation - and has disrupted U. S. rice exports - has been quietly testing another transgenic variety in Arkansas."

Lawyers representing rice farmers in a class action suit against Bayer state that the corporation "continues to put American rice farmers at risk," without explaining what went wrong with LLRICE 601 "and what steps they've taken to change their oversight, supervision, management and protection of the U. S. rice supply in their testing of Liberty Link rice varieties."

The complete article can be found at Arkansas Democrat Gazette web site: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/National/193410

Roundup Ready Alfalfa Planting Permanently Prohibited

On May 3rd, after a lengthy legal process, a California federal circuit judge imposed a permanent injunction on Monsanto's GE alfalfa, engineered to be herbicide (Roundup) resistant. Until the USDA conducts a full Environmental Impact Statement on the crop, further sales of alfalfa seed and planting of the crop are illegal. Judge Breyer also ordered that the seed distributor, Forage Genetics, must make the locations of all current GE alfalfa plantings available to the public on a government website so that growers of organic and conventional alfalfa can test their own crops to determine if there has been contamination.

In calling for the injunction, Judge Breyer noted that contamination of natural and organic alfalfa by the GE variety has already occurred, and noted that "Such contamination is irreparable environmental harm. The contamination cannot be undone." In a previous preliminary ruling in March, the judge noted that "for those farmers who choose to grow non-genetically engineered alfalfa, the possibility that their crops will be infected with the engineered gene is tantamount to the elimination of all alfalfa; they cannot grow their chosen crop." Commenting on the agency's refusal to assess this risk and others, the judge noted that "Nothing in NEPA, the relevant regulations, or the case law support such a cavalier response."

Monsanto and Forage Genetics, the developers of the GE alfalfa seed, failed to convince the Judge that their interests outweighed the public interest in food safety, freedom to farm natural crops, and environmental protection. In fact, Judge Breyer specifically noted that Monsanto's fear of lost sales "does not outweigh the potential irreparable damage to the environment."

This decision marks the first time any GE crop in the U.S. has been halted by a legal process, and it establishes very important precedent to challenge the flawed regulatory process for these novel organisms and establish the vital link between the environment and the economic wellbeing of non-GE farmers.

TAKE ACTION

Defend rBGH Labeling of Milk

Several large dairy producers and food companies (including Starbucks and Safeway) have made news recently by getting rid of recombinant bovine growth hormone, also known as rBGH or rBST, from their milk supply. This is great news for consumers, since this artificial growth hormone is known to cause harm to cows and may pose harm to humans.

Recombinant bovine growth hormone, also known as rBGH or rBST, is injected into cows to make them produce more milk. This practice, which is known to cause harm to cows and may pose harm to humans, is banned in Canada, Japan, Australia, and all 25 countries of the European Union. Although this is not technically an application of genetic engineering, it raises many of the same issues - the failure of the U.S. food and agricultural regulatory system to act in the interests of consumers and family farmers; the corporate control of our food system; and the industrialization of agriculture, moving us away from sustainable farming practices.

Monsanto, the company that makes the artificial growth hormone, is seeing much of its market slip away. In an attempt to preserve their profits, the company has asked the Food and Drug Administration to restrict the use of labels identifying "rBGH-free" or "rBST-free" dairy products. If Monsanto succeeds in convincing FDA to restrict rBGH-free labeling, consumers will lose valuable information about how their food is produced. Write to the FDA and tell them that consumers have a right to know!

To send an email and read more about this issue, go to the Food and Water Watch web site: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/fwwatch/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11211

Help Build the California GE-Free Network

As one of the largest agricultural economies in the world, California has the opportunity to become a leader in safeguarding our public and private lands, fisheries, forests, schools, gardens, and nurseries, from GE contamination. If GE is an issue that you are concerned about and you want to get involved in local action:

• If you are not already a member, sign-on to the Cal GE-Free list serve www.calgefree.org to receive this newsletter and action alerts.
• Consider a donation to Californians for GE-Free Agriculture.

To make make a tax-deductible donation, send a check payable to Cal GE-Free at: 15290 Coleman Valley Rd., Occidental, CA  95465
or go to www.calgefree.org/joinus.html#donate