Faux debate over mis-dubbed ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ aside, farmers need regulatory assurance

The Farmer Assurance Provision is formally Section 735 of the Continuing Resolution of 2013, passed in March to fund the government through the end of September. It has now expired, and biotech critics are waging war to keep it out of the farm bill pending in Congress.

From the beginning opponents in Washington and in the blogosphere inaccurately dubbed it the “Monsanto Protection Act,” charging that it was secretly tucked into the continuing resolution to benefit giant agribusiness concerns.

In reality the measure sought to protect farmers who plant an approved genetically modified crop that is subsequently found by a court to have been deregulated in error. Legislators wanted to make sure growers wouldn’t be forced to dig up crops that were legal at planting time.

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Read the full, original story here: “Farmers need protection in GMO disputes”