Monsanto Gets a Free Pass for New GMOs & Pesticides in House Farm Bill

We've been trying to get the Monsanto rider out of the 2013 Agriculture Appropriations Bill (if you haven't taken action on that yet, please click here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_25711.cfm).

In the meantime, Monsanto has opened another line of attack, this time in the U.S. House of Representative's version of the Farm Bill.

The House Farm Bill contains HR 872, the so-called Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act, which stops the EPA from reviewing new and expanded uses of pesticides and requires the USDA to make the approval of new genetically engineered crops easier and faster, limiting USDA review to 180 days.

While the USDA has never rejected a new GMO crop, public opposition, environmental concerns and litigation to protect farmers have slowed new approvals. This bill, to give Monsanto and the other biotechnology companies a free pass for new GMOs, includes a provision limiting USDA environmental review to a narrow evaluation of plant pest risks, even though the courts have ruled that a full environmental impact statement is required and must take into consideration the real threats of GMO crops, including "the potential elimination of a farmer's choice to grow non-genetically engineered crops, or a consumer's choice to eat non-genetically engineered food."