Judge White "ruled that a group of consumers and environmentalists were likely to prevail on their complaints that the U.S. Agriculture Department was trying to circumvent the law by allowing limited continued planting of seed stock for a biotech beet crop without conducting a required environmental review." Proposed remedies must be filed by October 4, 2010.
In August, Judge White revoked USDA's approval of the GM sugar beets until an environmental impact statement is completed. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) responded with plans to issue permits to seed producers under strict conditions such as not allowing the plant to flower. The groups then filed a lawsuit against USDA claiming that the decision to allow restricted planting violated the August court ruling. To read more on the background of this case, click here, here, and here to read past Ag&Food Law and Policy Blog posts on the subject.
To read the Reuters story, click here.
Posted: 09/30/2010
