GM foods have divided the world vertically into two camps, one swearing against them and the other willing to believe the claims of safety made by the developers of this category of foods. A country like the US seems to be wedded to GM foods as a major portion of soy and corn produced in this country are derived from GM category and with thousands of food products containing one or the other of these two ingredients it is almost impossible for an average American consumer to avoid ingestion of GM foods through the daily diet. Recent legal battle on the cultivation of GM beet ended in favor of the GM lobby when the Californian courts allowed sowing of the Round up beet during the season. But the latest ruling by the Supreme Court of USA banning the planting and sale of GM Alfalfa for feeding cattle in the country is likely to create further turmoil amongst farmers, seed producers and processors.
"It should be no surprise that Monsanto's PR machine is working hard to spin the truth in this morning's decision in the first-ever Supreme Court case on genetically engineered crops (Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms). Despite what the biotech seed giant is claiming, today's ruling isn't close to the victory they were hoping for. The 7-1 decision issued today by the Supreme Court was on the appeal of the Center for Food Safety's (CFS) successful suit, which resulted in a ban on GMO alfalfa. And, while the High Court ruled in favor of Monsanto by reversing an injunction that was part of the lower court's decision, more importantly, it also ruled that the ban on GMO alfalfa remains intact, and that the planting and sale of GMO alfalfa remains illegal".
Monsanto, the leading GM seed producer is not going to take this latest twist in its GM agricultural saga and can be expected to mount fierce offensive against the antagonists of GM crops to protect its turf. What is amazing is the almost neutral stand taken by the government in this controversy which is construed as succumbing to the muscle power of companies like Monsanto purely on economic considerations. The implications of the legal ruling cannot be easily discerned, though it is logical to think that if Gm Alfalfa crop is not safe for animals, can it be safe for human beings? Unfortunately there is a lot of gap between logic and reality and economic factors will far out weigh any human considerations!
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