US Supreme Court rules against Monsanto GM alfalfa, Justice Scalia comments on it ending the world
April 29, 2010
Supreme Court justices sounded skeptical Tuesday of a federal court decision blocking US biotech giant Monsanto’s sale of genetically modified alfalfa because some farmers fear their crops will be contaminated.
A federal judge in California in May 2007 ruled in a finding upheld on appeal in 2009 to block the sale of Monsanto’s GM alfalfa seeds.
The ruling also asked the USDA to carry out an environmental impact study which it had not done before giving a green light back in 2004 to the sale of these seeds.
Plaintiffs, who are organic farmers supported by organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity, worry that genetically modified seeds will contaminate their crops.
Monsanto took the fight all the way to the highest court in the land, arguing that the federal court did not have authority to block the alfalfa seed sales.
In a hearing, justices had questions about whether the environmental impact could be addressed before the USDA had done an impact study.
Judge Antonin Scalia minimized potential risks saying, “This is not the contamination of the New York city water supply. This isn’t the end of the world. It really isn’t.”
via US Supreme Court eyes bar on Monsanto GM alfalfa – Yahoo! News.
Yeah, it’s not like some alfalfa is going to create a black hole that swallows the entire galaxy in one day and one night resulting in the complete extinction of all life everywhere in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Geeze. Relax. Eat your franken-foods. Trust that if it turns out that GM foods are killing people slowly and/or causing diseases like cancer, there will, eventually, be lawsuits and it will be banned … after enough people have died. That’s the way it worked with vioxx, asbestos, PCBs, certain pesticides, DDT and cigarettes.
Comments
July 8, 2010 6:22 PM | Posted by: Jack
The Monsanto take on the ruling, as well as Monsanto bought and paid for media coverage, calling the decision a win for Monsanto... if you look deeper you will find that the blogger is an employee of Monsanto's public affairs dept.
http://www.monsantoblog.com/2010/06/21/supreme-court-decision-roundup-ready-alfalfa/
The big news kicking off the week is the U.S. Supreme Court’s 7-1 ruling to reverse a lower court’s ban on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa product. Media reports trumpeted Monsanto’s win:
High Court Sides With Monsanto in Alfalfa Case -Wall Street Journal
Monsanto Wins as Court Backs Alfalfa Seed Planting (Update1) – Bloomberg
Monsanto wins Supreme Court ruling – Des Moines Register
Justices Back Monsanto on Biotech Seed Planting – Wall Street Journal
Then, surprisingly, the Center for Food Safety issued a statement mid-day claiming victory. According to CFS, they are “celebrating” today the victory of a 7-1 ruling against them. I guess maybe CFS runs with a glass half-full mentality.
We had a reporter call and ask if CFS mistakenly issued the wrong statement. Go figure.
"Haven't we learned from the catastrophe in the Gulf of the dangers of technological arrogance, of proceeding ahead with technologies without worrying about the consequences? Why do we continue to throw precaution to the wind? ~Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a long-time advocate of family farmers and organic foods, on June 21, 2010, after the Supreme Court voted 7-1 to allow the experimental planting of genetically modified alfalfa seed before an environmental review is completed.
April 30, 2010 7:10 PM | Posted by: Jack
If one looks for the source of this article you will find that Xenophilia (and others) have changed the title... what's up with that Xeno?
Supreme Court questions ban of biotech alfalfa
By MARY CLARE JALONICK (AP)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isgbi9DSGVLOvoyTQ3f8M--Aw4sQD9FBGO1O0
The bottom line in the AP article... "A decision is expected before late June. The case is Monsanto v. Geerston Seed Farms, 09-475."