USDA Under Fire, Lighting Firecrackers

It seems like every time you turn around lately, the USDA is in trouble for something. The Organic and Non-GMO Report reports (via OCA) that the department recently got blasted by a federal court for putting the environment (as well as farmers’ livelilhoods) at risk by approving Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready Alfalfa,” a genetically modified crop, without conducting a full Environmental Impact Statement.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCA, via checkbiotech.org) points out that last week’s “emergency action notifications” regarding contaminated rice seeds are the third serious incident in the last six months, a fact which “underscores the USDA’s inability to keep unwanted and potentially harmful modified genes out of our food supply.”

And organic farmers banded together last month, forming FOOD Farmers (Federation of Organic Dairy Farmers–this one’s from Chews Wise) to push for tighter regulations on organic dairy, specifically, that in order for dairy to be labeled as “organic,” cows must obtain at least 30% of feed from the pasture. The regulation was proposed back in 2005, but the USDA has yet to push it through.

But six USDA representatives did manage to get down to Leesburg, Virginia to set off some firecrackers to scare off about 200 turkey vultures who were hanging out in a local cemetary. (That one’s from Leesburg Today)

Learn more about genetically-engineered crops and pasture-raised dairy on our Issues pages.