By Joshua Frank, t r u t h o u t | Report
Alfalfa is the fourth largest crop grown in the United States and Monsanto wants to control it. On April 27, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could well write the future of alfalfa production in our country.
Fortunately, for those who are concerned about the potential environmental and health impacts of genetically engineered (GE) crops, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is not yet residing on the bench.
For the past four years, the Center for Food Safety (CFS), a Washington DC-based consumer protection group, and others have litigated against Monsanto and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding the company’s Roundup Ready alfalfa. The coalition has focused their fight against Monsanto’s GE alfalfa, based on concerns that the plants could negatively impact biodiversity as well as other non-GE food crops.
In 2007, a California US District Court ruled in a landmark case that the USDA had illegally approved Monsanto’s GE alfalfa without carrying out a proper and full Environmental Impact Statement. The plaintiffs argued that GE alfalfa could contaminate nearby crops with its genetically manipulated pollen. Geertson Seed Farm, with the help of CFS, claimed that the farm’s non-GE crops could be damaged beyond repair by Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa.
Monsanto’s well-paid legal team appealed the court’s decision, but, in June 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the previous ruling and placed a nationwide ban on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa.
“USDA should start over and truly evaluate the contamination of non-GM alfalfa and the potential affects on seed growers, organic and natural meat producers, dairy producers, and conventional and organic honey producers,” said farmer and anti-GE advocate Todd Leake shortly after the ruling.
Monsanto, however, didn’t back down and appealed the Ninth Circuit’s decision to the US Supreme Court. In stepped Elena Kagan, whose role as solicitor general is to look out for the welfare of American citizens in all matters that come before the high court.
Unfortunately, Kagan opted to ditch her duty and instead side with Monsanto. In March 2010, a month before the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case, the solicitor general’s office released a legal brief despite the fact that the US government was not a defendant in the case.
As Kagan’s office argued, “The judgment of the court of appeals should be reversed, and the case should be remanded with instructions to vacate the permanent injunction entered by the district court.”
Despite numerous examples of cross-pollination of GE crops, Monsanto argued during the April 27 court proceedings that this was highly unlikely to occur. CFS and other plaintiffs are concerned that a federal law could be affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling. Courts in Oregon and California have already argued in previous cases that GE seeds must also be studied as to the potential impact on other conventional and organic crops.
Surprisingly, it seems that Kagan does not support a thorough study of GE seeds and their potential impact on environmental and human health. In doing so, Kagan has sided with conservative justices on the court who appeared skeptical that the lower courts had made the right decision in banning GE alfalfa.
During the Supreme Court hearings, Chief Justice John Roberts questioned whether the Ninth Circuit had the authority to issue a ban on GE alfalfa. Roberts contented that the court ought to have instead remanded the issue back to the USDA. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia took his defense of Monsanto even further, stating, “This isn’t the contamination of the New York City water supply,” he said. “This isn’t the end of the world, it really isn’t.”
Apparently Scalia and Roberts aren’t up on the latest scientific analysis that Monsanto’s GE crops have, in fact, bred new voracious super-weeds, which have forced farmers to “spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand, and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing.”
“Bowing to pressure from Monsanto and the other biotech companies, our federal agencies approved [GE] corn and cotton without requiring any mandatory testing for environmental impacts,” Andrew Kimbrell, executive director for the CFS recently wrote. “And the expected happened: a few years later, independent university researchers – again not the government – discovered that this [GE] pesticide was potentially fatal to Monarch butterflies and other pollinators … Without mandatory government testing, we’re clueless about the universe of keystone pollinators and other species that are being decimated as the [GE] plants continue to proliferate in our fields.”
The Supreme Court’s decision on Monsanto’s alfalfa ban will likely come early this summer. Justice Stephen Breyer recused himself from the case because his brother Charles Breyer oversaw the lower court’s decision against the company. Unsurprisingly, Justice Clarence Thomas, who once worked in the legal department for Monsanto, did not recuse himself from the matter.
While Elena Kagan has no experience on the bench and has provided the public with little to no information about where she stands on some of the most important issues of the day, the fact that she came to bat for Monsanto two months, at a time when the company is reeling from negative press, may shed some light on how she could rule in future GE cases if she’s confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice.
aword,
Yes, we are wanting this spin. I saw a commercial today for yet another electronic “game” for adults to purchase. We have become distraction junkies. Like a druggie wanting her fix, we have become hooked on the distractions in order to avoid the Big Lies that are happening all around us.
Reminds me of the movie Wall-E. We are the incapacitated, controlled, fat distraction junkies.
yes…soy and canola – never meant for human consumption – two of the biggest food-frauds in our grocery stores today along with the continuing fraud of corn “syrup”.
And all Fraken-non-Foods to boot.
I believe I am well past having any sense of humor at all the lies that we live. Even a “headline” today about those silly rocker-bottom “athletic” shoes didn’t leave me sniggering at the fools I see wearing them. And no tears to be shed here on this shit either.
We not only “have” asked for this – we continue and continue.
Like a constant game of pin the tail on the donkey or hit the pinata – we ask to be blindfolded and spun around and around and around.
This is not just an American issue, here in Australia crops like GM Alfalfa and even more so GM Canola, over the last decade or so pressure groups here have tried to make it more public knowledge that these crops are very detremental to health but due to the millions tied up in the industry Government and other groups turn a blind eye.
It is well known that canola is a fantastic alternative for engine oil but for human consumption a total disaster, a difficult one to deal with as I personally know growers whoes livelehood depends on their production of conola.
Don downunder
I am begging the Universe that this is not true about the Supreme Court Nominee being in bed with MONSANTO, of all shadow-run corporations….Say it Ain’t So!!!! But it might be nice to retract our offer of a “so-called” Liberal Activist Judge-especially if she is a wolf in sheep’s clothing! I don’t give a F&*% if she was Dean at Harvard Law.
Victoria
Monsanto contributions to congressional candidates:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00042069&cycle=2010
Let’s put it this way:
What politician or division manager of judge or Supreme Court Justice is NOT in some way vested with a major corporation in some way, shape or form?
This is not to defend Kagan, who I think, when all is said and done, will be confirmed, but there has been a culture of corruption so deep that distinguishing them by how long they’ve been in office or who appointed them in DC is meaningless.
If there is a message from Deepwater, its how much of a spider-web network has evolved of a corporate takeover of our nation, even while Clinton was in office, that has a stranglehold on the public trust and our government. In this way, the Tea Baggers, as far afield as they are from the truth because they themselves are held together with corporate dollars, are coming close to–if not paralleling the real truth.
Vested interests are vested interests, and like a Madison Avenue advertising firm is important to the public relations of a major corporation, so are lobbyists. The way political campaigns are structured now, you can’t get away from it. Which is another reason the rise of the individual through a collective political voice is crucial.
Take a quick look down “google” lane with “roundup” and “roundup ready”. I knew that “Roundup” is a commonly used and extremely toxic weedkiller- sprayed around my apartment complex twice a week for sure.
http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/11/can-a-company-that-makes-roundup-be-sustainable/
The two-n-two put together from today’s blog is that Monsanto is creating “seeds” that are “Roundup ready” meaning, first they sell the seeds (alfalfa, cotton, soy*) have been genetically modified to resist their weedkiller “Roundup” – which they then sell – the seeds are supposed to thrive while the “harmful weeds” are killed by Roundup sprayed on the growing crops.
http://ces.uwyo.edu/PUBS/B1173.pdf
So, “Roundup Ready” agriculture is a double-whammy of frankenstein-ian proportion. Lots more dyin’ than just the Monarch butterflies and bees.
* I stopped purchasing soy products awhile back when I learned that approx 90% of soy in America is GMO. Additionally I understand that it is generally not processed to remove the toxins that promote digestive difficulties in humans. Soy was the last missing puzzle piece in my ongoing digestive issues.
Well, if she’s a lesbian, we can say she licks Monsanto’s pussy instead of…but I don’t think Monsanto…um…anyway, this was my one reason for voting for Obama: the Supreme Court.
That’s what my endorsement and my first vote cast for a president since Clinton in 1992 was based on. We are probably better off now than with President Palin; we can still hold Bam’s feet to the fire.
I feel a little ill.
I am shocked – not only at her ignorance but her office’s meddling. Why would they do this?
Follow the money trail? Or did Monsanto threaten someone (outing maybe?)
GM gene technology is literally Pandora’s box and it is in the hands of the profit-at-any-price crowd. Monsanto is the face of evil in our current century.
Fe,
Then let’s hope she is exposed as one and that cuts down her nomination? Or depending on today’s trend, that she is NOT exposed as leslbian and THAT cuts down her nomination?
(Because we already know the real issues will not be addressed – by the media and the public anyway. Like (by way of this article) why is she handing down legal briefs on issues that her office is not involved in? Does that mean that as a Surpreme Court Justice she’ll travel the country holding Neighborhood Court and overriding the local/national judicial hleriarchy? Maybe she’ll go where Monsanto goes? I’m just sayin’.)
Yeah…but, the real issue according to mainstream media is whether or not Kagan is a lesbian.