February 16, 2011

US administration endorses GM crops planting in wildlife refuges

The US administration has endorsed genetically modified (GM) agriculture on more than 50 National Wildlife Refuges, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

The new plan is designed to insulate refuges from environmental court challenges in the wake of a lawsuit recently won by PEER and other groups which halted GM agriculture in all North-eastern refuges.

The national blitz of official filings is intended to remove a perceived barrier to the export of American GM crops - US restrictions on growing GM crops on National Wildlife Refuges. Under a US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) policy, GM crops are banned from refuges unless determined to be "essential" to refuge operations. Countries wary of importing US bio-engineered food have cited the policy as one basis for their concern.

The White House has embarked on a region-by-region approach to file environmental paperwork justifying GM agriculture.

The proposal for the Midwestern Refuges would allow more than 20,000 acres to be cultivated with no limits on how many acres could be GM crops. In its comments, PEER argues that the GM operations risk harm to wildlife, refuge plants and soil, while contending that there is no refuge purpose for which GM crops are essential, as required by FWS policy.

"These plans are based on the curious notion that wildlife benefit from having the small slivers of habitat set aside for them covered by genetically engineered soy," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting the Midwest refuges are already surrounded by row crops, most of which are now GM. "To boost US exports, the Obama administration is forcing wildlife refuges into political prostitution."

Increasingly the only seed available to US farmers, especially for corn and soy, is GM. Ironically, it is the ubiquity of GM agriculture that FWS offers as the main reason it must allow these crops on refuges.