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Ban on genetically engineered crops stands as Federal court approves settlement YEARS OF EFFORTS BY LOCAL FARMERS AND CITIZENS YIELD VICTORY Moderator’s Note: More good news on the legal front of the movement to ban genetically engineered crops. Followers and readers of this blog know that organic farmers and food sovereignty activists in Jackson County, Oregon managed in May 2014 to pass an ordinance through a countywide election that banned GEOs (a.k.a. GMOs). The ordinance was challenged by GE crop growers backed by Monsanto, Syngenta, and other biotechnology corporations and their armies of lawyers and lobbyists. In a second Federal Court ruling, the novel ordinance has been upheld with the approval of a crucial settlement agreement that will allow current growers of GE crops (alfalfa) in Jackson County to continue their current GE production cycle until the GE crop is replaced in the next crop rotation. These growers would then have to comply with the current ordinance and switc...

Cartoon by Jack Weins. Courtesy of Health Impact News Federal court upholds local ban on GMO crops IS THIS BEGINNING OF END FOR UNRESTRAINED PROLIFERATION OF BIOTECH CROPS? Devon G. Peña | Las Colonias de San Pablo, CO | June 3, 2015 The struggle against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has reached an especially significant milestone: Yesterday (June 2), a Federal Magistrate Judge, Mark D. Clarke, partially dismissed a lawsuit that was brought by commercial alfalfa growers seeking to overturn a 2014 Jackson County, Oregon ordinance that bans the planting of GMO crops. Jackson County is one of the major West Coast locations for commercial plantings of GMO seed crops for alfalfa, various turf grasses, and beets. The ban is based on an innovative local ordinance that was approved by Jackson County voters in the 2014 November general election. Almost on the same day opponents, backed by Monsanto and other biotechnology corporations, deployed legal teams to assist a select group of Jac...

Image credit: kboo-fm Rural farm county home to major Monsanto & Syngenta GMO seed operations ORDINANCE BASED ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS NOT FOOD SAFETY Devon G. Peña | Las Colonias de San Pablo, CO | May 20, 2014 A rural farming county in Oregon has just voted to ban certain GMO plants from cultivation. With 94 percent of the vote in, the Jackson County voters produced a solid victory margin of 66 to 34 percent. While Vermont recently became the first state to require GMO labeling of retail consumer foodstuffs, this is the first vote involving a ban on the cultivation of certain genetically engineered or transgenic crops. The successful outcome occurred despite the fact that opponents including Monsanto, Syngenta, and other industrial growers spent more than $455,000 to defeat the citizens’ ordinance initiative. It seems to be getting harder for the Gene Giants to buy elections. In the case of Jackson County, the ban specifically targets large GMO seed production operations by Monsa...