The following is an excerpt.
The biotech industry rejoiced along with biotech seed companies and farmers supportive of genetically modified organism (GMO) crops when President Obama signed a budget bill with a rider authorizing the secretary of agriculture to temporarily allow continued growing of crops previously approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), notwithstanding legal challenges around their safety.
Since Obama brushed aside a petition with 250,000 signatures from GMO foes, the 199-word rider—officially Section 735 of HR 933—has sparked thousands of angry words among opponents of GMO crops. They call it the “Monsanto Protection Act,” while supporters use the term “Farmer Sustainability Act.”
Whatever it is called, the rider’s enactment has re-ignited the GMO wars. The budget bill or “continuing resolution” to which the rider was attached covers just the current fiscal year, ending September 30. At deadline, GMO foes had not said whether they plan a court challenge to the rider, which they contend wrongly limits judicial review of GMO crops for the sole benefit of producers and users.
View the original article here: GMO Rider: ‘Monsanto Protection’ or ‘Farmer Sustainability’?
