Sugar Beets: aflcio2008's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

A federal judge has rejected the approval of genetically engineered sugar beets to be cultivated in the United States, arguing that the Agriculture Department did not adequately address the likely risk that the altered trait could contaminate other sugar beets or related crops, including Swiss chard and red table beets.

The rejection is a welcome victory for those of us concerned about the known and unknown problems associated with genetic contamination and could lead to an outright ban on the modified beets, which have already been widely used by many farmers.

In his ruling Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco, cited concerns over the “potential elimination of farmer’s choice to grow non-genetically engineered crops, or a consumer’s choice to eat non-genetically engineered food.”

A similar ruling was established two years ago that banned the planting of genetically modified alfalfa, and the Department of Agriculture has yet to perform the requested environmental impact report for that crop.  According to Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety:

We expect the same result here as we got in alfalfa.  It will halt almost any further planting and sale because it’s no longer an approved crop.

The beets were engineered to contain a bacterial gene licensed by Monsanto, which makes the crop impervious from the companies Round-Up Ready herbicide.  By some estimates 95% of sugar beets planted this year were genetically modified, and while many farmers argue that easier weed control requires less tillage, reducing fuel, fertilizer and erosion, their use also leads to excessive spraying of harmful pesticides. The use of GE sugar beets also threatens the livelihood of farmers wishing to avoid the use of GE crops as the traits can easily spread to neighboring fields.

Most consumers aren’t aware that nearly half of the sugar we eat or drink is derived from sugar beets, and given the widespread use and risks of contamination, we lack the ability to choose whether we want to purchase products containing the altered ingredient.  To learn more about how the biotech industry aims to keep us in the dark, check out Lisa Bunin’s article about the widespread use of GE sugar beets and the problems with the lack of labeling.