On June 24, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit left in place an injunction barring Monsanto from selling Roundup Ready® alfalfa. For Reuters article, click here. According to the article,
[t]he Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the company's request for a rehearing of its appeal and said it would accept no more petitions for rehearing in the three-year-old case.The only avenue left for Monsanto now is the U.S. Supreme Court. According to a
Monsanto spokesman Garrett Kasper said the company was "disappointed" by the appeals court ruling "but we are considering our legal options and one of them could include a request for review by the Supreme Court."USDA did not join in Monsanto’s petition for rehearing.
Opposition to genetically modified crops called this a victory for consumer and farmers and protected their rights to plant the crops they want to and eat the foods of their choice.
The suit began in February of 2006, when
[e]nvironmental groups and conventional seed companies, led by Geertson Seed Farms, sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February 2006 to force it to rescind its 2005 approval of the Monsanto seed until it does a full environmental study.For more on this story, click here to view an article by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Monsanto intervened on the government's side in the suit.
The plaintiffs claimed cross pollination of genetically modified crops could contaminate conventional alfalfa fields and overuse of the herbicide Roundup, which the seeds were bred to resist, could foul soil and groundwater or give rise to Roundup-resistant "super weeds."
The trial judge, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer, ruled in 2007 that an agency study had failed to address those concerns. The Ninth Circuit affirmed that ruling twice.
The case is Geertson Seed Farms v. Johanns, No. 07-16458, 2009 WL 1782972 (9th Cir. 2009), click here for a copy of the opinion.
For a Center Research Publication on life after Geertson Seed Farms decision, read Allison Peck, Plant Biotechnology Law after Geertson Seed Farms: Potential Impacts on Regulation, Liability, and Coexistence Measures (National Ag Law Center Publications) (9-2008).
Posted: 07/08/09
