Will GM Alfalfa Mean the End of Organic Milk?

That's what many fear about genetically engineered alfalfa. Organic farmers grow alfalfa as a forage crop for livestock, but genetically engineered crops can pollinate organic crops, making them non-organic. No organic forage, no organic livestock. No organic livestock, no organic milk. 

That scenario has already played out in corn and canola, at least in some regions. A seed scientist at an organic seed company told me it's virtually impossible to find corn seed from the midwest that has avoided GM contamination. As a result, this company buys its organic corn seeds from a remote region of the Southeast. The same is true of rapeseed (canola) in Western Canada.

To avoid this fate with Round-Up Ready Alfalfa, 200,000 people have submitted comments to the USDA criticizing a draft environmental impact statement on the GM crop by the agency, which had recommended approval of the crop.

This battle has been brewing for sometime. In 2006, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) sued the USDA for failing to conduct an environmental impact statement, as required by law, before deregulating the crop. The federal courts sided with CFS and banned GE alfalfa plantings until USDA analyzed the impacts of GE alfalfa on the environment, farmers and the public.

Strangely, that environmental impact statement concluded, "There is no evidence that consumers care about GE contamination of organic alfalfa" -- even though it would no longer qualify as organic if it were contaminated. Stranger still, considering that organic milk is the leading organic product sought by consumers.

Regardless of what you think about genetically modified crops, the question is whether a crop should be approved that could threaten the organic status of another crop. In this case, it's not just a crop, but the animals that depend on the crop for forages and the consumers who want the products produced by those animals. None will be organic if the feedstock is contaminated.

Today is the last day to submit a comment on the issue. Center for Food Safety has more information here. 

Comments

[Eliza]

Thanks for the link to take action on this issue!

[Phillip Hartman]

As is typical of people who think like you do Mr. Fromartz your claim of 200,000 people commenting AGAINST the EIS for alfalfa is a lie. There were a total of less than 10,000 comments and they certainly were not all against GMO alfalfa. My right to grow RR alfalfa is JUST AS IMPORTANT as your right not to grow it, so I would encourage you to think of how we can each exist together with the least infringement on each others rights.

[Liana Hoodes, National Organic Coalition]

Mr. Hartman:
The numbers in our Press Release(over 200,000) come from 5 organizations (Center for Food Safety, Food and Water Watch, Organic Consumers Association, CREDO Action Fund, and Food Democracy Now) who had portals for individuals to write their comments and send them in from the organization web site to "regulations.gov" -- the federal website for commenting.
We did this because in the past, the USDA's count has been significantly under what we knew was there.
In addition, on the "regulations.gov" website they do note that it may take awhile for all the comments to be counted, so if the comments from these 5 organizations, totaling over 200,000, were sent in on the last day, then "Regulations.gov" may not yet have posted them.
FROM THE REGULATIONS.GOV WEBSITE:
"Once your comment is received, the appropriate agency must process it before it is posted to Regulations.gov. Given the fact that certain regulations may have thousands of comments, processing may take several weeks before it may be viewed online."

We will be attempting to verify final numbers, but we already know that the 200,000 does not include those that were directly submitted to Regulations.gov, as well as at least one other organizational portal that was not a part of our count.

Stay tuned.
Liana Hoodes, National Organic Coalition

[Sam Fromartz]

Ms. Hoodes, Thanks for elaborating on the 200,000 figure, which I got from NOC's press release on the issue.

[healthgeek]

If most of the cows being fed by Organic grains to get Organic milk, and at the same time most of the Organic Corn/Soya is contaminated with GMO seeds.

So the end of Organic corn/soya products is right here.

am i correct?

For now we need to buy **Grass Fed** Organic milk.

p.s. also, the really important point that corn fed cows have more Omega 6 amino-acids, which is really bed as it increases inflammation processes. Grass fed cows have more Omega 3 aminoacids that we really need for creating new cells.

[Fromartz]

There is risk of contamination with GMO corn, not soy. And nearly all diaries feed grain rations to cows, especially during the months when forages are not available. The key is the balance between the two, allowing adequate amounts of grazing. And yes, if animals graze the proportion of beneficial fats in the milk increases.

[Arthur Harvey]

USDA does not directly forbid GMO content in organic products or feed. The regulation bans the "use" of "excluded methods". This is being interpreted to mean the farmer or processor cannot knowingly use GMO products. But everyone knows that nearly all corn in the US is already contaminated partly with GMO, and organic corn is not required to be tested for GMO content.

The fundamental conflict is between USDA's position as promoter of GMO's, and USDA's position as the guardian (?) of organic integrity. If USDA was serious about organic integrity, they would establish a threshold for GMO content (in Europe that is 1%, I think), and ban anything above that in organic foods. But USDA is not serious.

[rubyoxy]

In the cases of both genetically-engineered alfalfa and sugar beets, the GMOs were labeled "plant pests" by default, the manufacturer petitioned for deregulation, APHIS completed a brief EA, and both GMOs were consequentially allowed to be sold and planted without restriction.

[WendiS]

Thank you for bringing these important facts to average people. For the folks that are either pro RR Alfalfa or indifferent; the right of Americans to avoid gmo's tainting our food chain supersedes your right to taint it in the same way my right to not breath in second hand smoke supersedes your right to smoke in a restaurant.