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Lakeport Vs. Monsanto

By Philip Murphy

8-9-05

 

After an abortive attempt last April to get the Lake County BOS to pass a Mendocino proposition"H" -style genetically modified organism ban, once again the GMO issue has been brought before the board. This time around the proposed ordinance is much narrower in scope, covering only one GMO crop, Roundup Ready alfalfa. Monsanto's latest frankenfood is intended for cows, horses and other livestock, and was deregulated just a few weeks ago, in time for planting this Fall. Alfalfa is currently the fourth largest field crop acreage-wise in the nation and California is the greatest domestic producer, so the potential for environmental harm in Lake County and across the nation is enormous.

 

The Lake County ordinance would put a 30 month moratorium in effect, which would be followed by a five year-2.5 mile buffer zone condition, plus a public registry that would be maintained for 10 years. Imperial county has already been excluded for sales of Round Ready alfalfa, due to their large export market, which has been quite insistent on all shipments being GMO-free. 75% of the nation‚s export alfalfa crop goes to GMO-free Japan, so growers are very cautious about jeopardizing their lucrative foreign contracts. Growers in Washington state have a verbal agreement with Monsanto to hold off introducing RR alfalfa there as well, and Oregon is leaning towards a state-wide moratorium too, all due to a strong negative reaction from foreign buyers.

 

Roundup Ready alfalfa is typical of GMO crops in that it greatly increases the amount of toxic materials used to grow a commodity and solves an almost non-existent problem, namely weed contamination in animal feed. 83% of all alfalfa grown in the United States is produced without any herbicides at all, yet RR alfalfa requires that the entire crop be soaked in glyphosate as many as three times a year. As if that wasn‚t bad enough, after a few years when it‚s time to rotate a RR alfalfa field to another crop (which must be done to ensure soil fertility), the typical method of removing the RR alfalfa is to soak the entire field again with herbicides even more toxic than roundup. With RR alfalfa seed expected to cost roughly three times more than conventional seed plus greatly increased spray costs, it‚s clear that the priority here is to increase Monsanto‚s profits, not growers.

 

There are other issues as well, like the possibility of cross breeding with feral alfalfa or near relatives, like native Black Medic. Once claimed impossible by industry flacks, GMO crops have demonstrated the ability to cross pollinate species other than their own, so the possibility of developing a super-weed is hardly a far-fetched theory. In a county that has spent millions of dollars in a losing battle against over a dozen non-native invasive plant species, the thought of bringing another difficult to eradicate and potentially invasive plant into the county should be reason enough to delay if not permanently ban it‚s introduction.

 

Another problem with RR alfalfa is one already known to canola and corn growers, that any contamination of their crops by GMO pollen or seed drift is grounds for a lawsuit by Monsanto, for unlicensed use of their product! In a perfect example of the perpetrator blaming the victim, Monsanto has sued 147 farmers, and spends $10 million dollars a year just to investigate and sue growers. Monsanto has won over $15 million dollars in these lawsuits, the largest of which cost a single grower over $3 million dollars.

 

Then there is the issue of safety regarding a the increased use of a product known to cause thyroid and liver cancer, damage to human placental cells and sperm, and is the third most common cause of farm worker illness. Once considered the "safe" herbicide, an growing body of evidence strongly suggests that glyphosate is far from being "As safe as table salt" as Monsanto once claimed before the New York Attorney General sued them for false advertising. Glyphosate has also been shown to be lethal to amphibians even in tiny amounts, and in EPA field tests had a half-life of up to 141 days, with Swedish studies showing a half-life of up to three years.

 

So on the 23rd of August at 10:30 am the Lake County BOS will decide the issue, though the Farm Bureau has already tried to use a minor technicality to get it pulled from the agenda within hours of the news of the proposal being released to the supervisors. The vote will probably be close, but with so many reasons to support the ordinance and so few to oppose it, the Farm Bureau will have it‚s work cut out for it.

 

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