[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[SANET-MG] US interior department sued over GM testing in wildlife reserve
The article below is disturbing. Certainly pharm crop testing would have
a profound effect on the wild species in the "sanctuary".
U.S. Interior Department Sued over GMO Plantings
April 07, 2006 — By Carey Gillam, Reuters
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A coalition concerned about the cultivation of
genetically modified crops in wildlife refuge areas filed suit against
the U.S. Interior Department Wednesday, saying government workers
illegally approved the planting.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, seeks
to block further cultivation of the crops at the Prime Hook refuge
outside Dover, Delaware. Prime Hook is one of more than 500 federal
wildlife refuges.
It named as defendants the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and its parent
agency, the Interior Department. The plaintiffs are the Delaware Audubon
Society, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the
Center for Food Safety.
The plaintiffs said they discovered "a top Bush administration political
appointee" overruled the wildlife refuge manager in allowing the
genetically altered crops to be planted on land designated as a national
wildlife refuge in violation of department policy.
Officials with Fish and Wildlife and the Interior Department declined to
comment immediately.
The plaintiffs say the genetically modified crops and the pesticides
associated with growing them can have negative effects on birds, aquatic
animals, other wildlife and plant species.
"These refuges are supposed to be for wildlife, not chemical companies
or agribusiness," Gene Hocutt, a spokesman for Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, said in a statement announcing
the lawsuit. "Plowing up native grasses for mutated row crops
constitutes biological malpractice of the highest order and a betrayal
of the purposes of the National Wildlife Refuge System."
As many as 100,000 acres of refuge lands are under cultivation to
genetically modified crops, according to agency documents obtained by
PEER under the Freedom of Information Act.
Source: Reuters
********************************************************
To unsubscribe from SANET-MG:
1- Visit http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html to unsubscribe or;
2- Send a message to <listserv@sare.org> from the address subscribed to the list. Type "unsubscribe sanet-mg" in the body of the message.
Visit the SANET-MG archives at: http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html.
Questions? Visit http://www.sare.org/about/sanetFAQ.htm.
For more information on grants and other resources available through the SARE program, please visit http://www.sare.org.