The Roundup Ready Disaster

A mixture of good and bad news on the national food policy front. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first before turning to some more encouraging information...

As you may be aware, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at the behest of the Obama administration, approved the use of a new strain of genetically engineered alfalfa seed in January of this year. This transgenic seed, which was developed by Monsanto, is called “Roundup Ready” alfalfa because it is designed to be resistant to the corporation’s widely used weed killer, Roundup. While this initially appeared to be a windfall for farmers who use transgenic seed, it has become clear that Roundup Ready alfalfa is almost certainly going to prove to be nothing less than an agricultural disaster.

Farmers and scientists across the nation have discovered solid evidence linking the use of Roundup Ready corn and soy, in conjunction with the Roundup weed killer, to massive rates of animal infertility and spontaneous abortion. In fact, infertility rates have been recorded as high as 20%, while spontaneous abortions are occurring at the unbelievable rate of 45%. Scientific evidence suggests that this disaster is being caused by severe micronutrient deficiencies in the soil on farms which use Roundup Ready seed and the weedkiller. Apparently, these deficiencies depopulate the soil of its regular microorganisms and have enabled an as yet unnamed microorganism to take their place. Along with general nutrient deficiencies in Roundup Ready crops, this new microorganism has been identified by scientists as the cause of the disaster. The situation is bad enough as is, but it promises to become even worse as Roundup Ready alfalfa is planted because alfalfa is used primarily to make hay that is fed to livestock. (http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/dr_hubers_warning/)

What comes as the largest surprise, however, is that these scientific findings are not brand new. In fact, the respected plant pathologist Dr. Don M. Huber sent a letter outlining this situation to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on January 17th, 2011. This was weeks before Secretary Vilsack approved the use of Roundup Ready Alfalfa. We are left to wonder why Secretary Vilsack disregarded Dr. Huber’s warning and request for additional time and funding for further research into Roundup Ready crops. We can be sure, however, that Monsanto was tirelessly lobbying the Obama administration for approval of its alfalfa seed.

Furthermore, the Roundup disaster provides us with yet another example of the dangers of transgenic and industrial scale agriculture. Situations like this are what makes the development of sound food policy so critical for our communities, both locally and nationally.

Now, the good news regarding all of this is that there is something each of us can do about the USDA’s questionable decision making. I encourage you to watch the video below, in which Dr. Huber explains the shocking breadth of the crisis, and then sign the petition to ask the Obama administration to ban the use of Roundup Ready alfalfa until further (independent!) research can be conducted. The petition can be found at:

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/dr_hubers_warning/

Dr. Huber Explains Science Behind New Organism and Threat from Monsanto's Roundup, GMOs to Disease and Infertility from Food Democracy Now! on Vimeo.