Obama administration GMO alfalfa approval -- petition (Credo)

[Dynamique]

Tell President Obama: Stand up for me, not Monsanto

For months, we've been asking the USDA and the Obama Administration to deny Monsanto's application to market its genetically modified Roundup Ready alfalfa. Unfortunately, on January 27, President Obama's Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued unrestricted approval for GMO alfalfa, brushing aside very real concerns about its disastrous effects on the organic industry, the environment, and our health.¹
It also appears that the decision came all the way from the top of the president's political team. According to Maureen Dowd's New York Times column on January 29, David Axelrod -- one of President Obama's chief advisors -- urged the administration to "plow forward' with the approval of GMO alfalfa in a White House staff meeting.²
Along with our allies, CREDO members have submitted hundreds of thousands of public comments opposing GMO alfalfa on the grounds that it will contaminate non-GMO strains and cause irreparable damage to the organic dairy and beef industry, which relies on GMO-free alfalfa for feed.
It is deeply disappointing that President Obama and his administration have chosen to support Monsanto's profits and consolidation of the agricultural sector over the livelihoods of farmers and health of consumers. But we can't give up now. We need to hold the administration accountable for their decision and dig in for the long-term fight against GMOs and Big Ag.
If GMO alfalfa wasn't enough, just a week later the USDA issued approval for another of Monsanto's GMO products -- sugar beets -- prior to the completion of a court-ordered environmental review.³
The problems with GMO crops are multifold. When grown in open fields, their genes are extremely difficult to contain. This is particularly true for alfalfa which is a perennial and a profuse pollinator, making it extremely likely that modified genes from its pollen will end up in conventional and organic crops.
Because organic certification prohibits the inclusion of GMOs, any contamination renders a food ineligible for the organic label. So otherwise organic cows that are fed contaminated alfalfa are no longer able to produce organic dairy or beef, decimating organic farmers' profit margins.
These decisions make it clear that the Obama administration is more comfortable standing up for Monsanto and Big Ag than for the farmers who produce and the consumers who eat our food.
The battle is far from over. The recent GMO approvals are already being appealed in the courts. We will continue to follow this issue and alert you to action opportunities.
In the meantime, we need to let President Obama know we're watching and that these potentially disastrous decisions are being made by his administration, on his watch.


Click here to add your name to Credo's petition

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¹ "USDA Won't Impose Restrictions on Biotech Alfalfa Crop", Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2011
² "No Axe to Grind", New York Times, January 29, 2011
³ Civil Eats, February 9, 2011

[Hotspring 44]

Here is another petition site that can be used to send message to your reps and the Obama Admin.
The site automatically addresses your petition form to your reps.

Here is the commentary of this (petitions' links) particular web page:
"Tell Them to Reverse the Decision to Deregulate Roundup Ready Alfalfa and Sugarbeets!

The USDA has reviewed Monsanto’s brand of Roundup Ready alfalfa and sugarbeets—genetically engineered to withstand the harsh herbicide glyphosphate, a.k.a. Roundup—and decided that genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa did not need to be regulated at all, and that sugarbeets will be “partially deregulated”: USDA will let farmers plant GE sugarbeets if they obey rules designed to prevent the plant’s wind-blown pollen from reaching organic fields—though if the rules themselves prove ineffective, organic sugarbeets will be contaminated.
Roundup Ready alfalfa and sugarbeets will spread, and will easily contaminate non-GE crops, including organic crops—which will, of course, render them non-organic. And the lack of regulation will increase herbicide use of up to 23 million pounds per year.
We need to blanket Congress with protests, asking senators and representatives and oversight committees to review the deregulation decision. We need to show Congress that there is a steep political price to be paid for supporting genetically engineered organisms, especially alfalfa and sugarbeets. And we need to put pressure on the USDA and the Obama administration. Tell them how angry you are, and ask them to step in."


The web page is: https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site...rAction&id=656


Below is the (personalize-able) wording of the petition:

Deregulation of Roundup Ready Alfalfa Dear [Decision Maker], * Please personalize your message I cannot possibly express my shock and dismay at learning that the USDA had decided to completely deregulate genetically engineered alfalfa, and partially deregulate genetically engineered sugarbeets. It is an outrageous decision that will have far-reaching implications. The USDA's own data shows that just 7% of alfalfa acres are currently treated with herbicides. USDA's projections in their environmental impact statement show that a substantial adoption of Roundup Ready alfalfa would trigger increases in glyphosphate herbicide use of up to 23 million pounds per year! This is unthinkable, especially considering that many "superweeds" have already become resistant to Roundup. We'll be living in a toxic soup in a very short while. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White ruled that a full environmental impact statement (EIS) needed to be done on the sugarbeets before further action was taken. This partial deregulation is in violation of that order. Without regulation, genetically engineered crops will encroach on non-GE crops, irretrievably contaminating them. There have already been over 200 episodes of transgenic contamination of alfalfa alone, costing farmers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales. And even though there are rules in place designed to prevent contamination of regular sugarbeets by the Roundup Ready variety, no one can say if these rules will be effective--until the damage has already been done! If genetically engineered crops spread, the word "organic" will be virtually meaningless, affecting crops, the cattle who eat the alfalfa, and consumers who eat both. My family and I are careful to purchase organic foods. We believe our health, and the health of our children, is too important to do otherwise. Recent studies show that genetically engineered foods are causing terrible genetic changes in mammal offspring. Scientists are seeing birth defects, high infant mortality rates, and sterility in hamsters, rats, and livestock fed genetically engineered soy and corn. Some hamster pups even begin growing hair inside their mouths! What our children eat not only affects them, but will also affect the biology of their children--and may harm them irreparably. Please do everything in your power, Mr. President, to step in and protect your citizens from this very great threat to their health. Please, senators and members of Congress, convene hearings to learn how the USDA could possibly have made such a dangerous decision, when only full regulation has any chance to control the spread and use of genetically engineered crops. And please, Mr. Secretary, don't be swayed by Monsanto's deep pockets. Your own EIS proves that RR alfalfa desperately needs to be regulated--and the EIS on RR sugarbeets hasn't even been completed yet, so you are in fact violating the law with this action. I want to be very clear: I will not support any candidate who has voted for or otherwise promoted genetically engineered organisms. You will see a massive groundswell of public opinion against this terrible decision, and the political consequences will be severe. Please--for all our sakes, overturn this disastrous decision.