Back in early 2012, the US Department of Agriculture seemed on the verge of approving new genetically modified crops from agrichemical giants Monsanto and Dow.The two agrichemical giants were pushing new corn and soy varieties that would respond to the ever-expanding problem of herbicide-tolerant superweeds by bringing more-toxic herbicides into the mix—and likely ramping up the resistance problem, as I explained at length in a post at the time.
no longer too big to poison us, it's good to see our agencies take a litte more interest and time before using us as guinea pigs.
Yet in August, the USDA again signaled that approval would be imminent—and by the end of 2012, people who follow ag regulatory issues were telling me that the USDA would almost certainly approve the crops over Christmas break, timing the decision in an effort to minimize the inevitable uproar.But then Christmas came and went with no announcement—leading Dow to issue a January press statement about how the unexpected delay meant it could not sell its new product to farmers for the 2013 growing season.Yet the company remained confident about the prospects for approval in time for planting in 2014—it told the trade journal Delta Farm Press it "expects all approvals will be in place for sale in late 2013," in time for a its novels seeds to be used over a "broad geography" in 2014.But on Friday, the USDA essentially trampled on those expectations—it announced it was delaying approval of the crops until it could generate full environmental impact statements (known as EIS's) on them. The move effectively means that the crops won't be planted in fields next year, either, a Dow spokesperson told Bloomberg News.
finally put us first over big business and it's willingness to try anything over and over again.
What's going on here is that the National Environmental Policy Act, all federal agencies, including USDA, are required to perform an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) if there's a chance that a regulatory decision will affect the human environment. But for years, the USDA did not issue such analyses as part of its process of approving GMO crops, and watchdog groups like the Center for Food Safety have repeatedly and successfully sued the department for failing to do so.
these are the things our Pres. is pushing for regulation, too many act as though is a bad thing to make sure we don't die for another dollar. these are also the things that republicans are fighting against selfish, careless, throw caution to the wind and full speed ahead kill them all let God sort 'em out, for another dollar.
