September 22, 2011

Source: ISB September 2011 News Report
by Phillip Jones

Controversy over GE Fish Approval
During the early 1990s, scientists devised a fast-growing, genetically engineered (GE) salmon that possessed a growth hormone gene that is expressed in the winter, when the endogenous gene is typically downregulated in wild fish due to the lack of food. Last fall, the US Food and Drug Administration appeared to be on the brink of approving the GE salmon, but the agency decided to continue to mull over the application, while opposition mounted against the GE fish.

Lawsuit Challenges Monsanto GE Seed Patents
Patent owners who want to retain their intellectual property rights sue those who infringe their patents. During March 2011, the Public Patent Foundation filed a lawsuit in a New York federal district court against Monsanto on behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses, and organic agricultural organizations, asking whether "Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto's transgenic seed should land on their property." If the judge grants the plaintiffs' request, Monsanto's GE seed patent claims would be deemed invalid on the grounds that the GE seeds are immoral and poisonous.

The Beet Goes On
The cultivation of GE sugar beets continues to ensure work for lawyers. In 2005, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) deregulated Monsanto's Genuity Roundup Ready sugar beets after the agency performed an Environmental Assessment and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact pursuant to NEPA. In response, The Center for Food Safety and several other groups filed a lawsuit alleging that APHIS should not have deregulated the GE beets. Today the issue is still unresolved. Earlier this year, a lawsuit was filed to prevent APHIS from allowing the planting of GE sugar beets until the agency completes its EIS.

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Website: http://www.vt.edu

Published: September 22, 2011