Goodbye GMOs. Well, unfortunately not forever but at least GMOs have recently been given the boot from a 10,000-acre national wildlife refuge in the USA. A court ruling, issued by a federal judge in Missouri, recently found that the American Fish and Wildlife Agency should not have allowed the planting and cultivation of genetically modified crops at the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware.
According to the St. Louis Today Newspaper, “U.S. District Judge Gregory Sleet wrote that the Fish and Wildlife agency erred by failing to conduct environmental studies to determine whether farming with genetically modified crops at the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware was compatible with conservation and habitat preservation”.
The suit was filed in April 2006 on behalf of Delaware Audubon Society, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Center for Food Safety. Some 37 GMO farming contracts have been cancelled because of the recent ruling.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife should not be planting genetically engineered crops on National Wildlife Refuges,” said Kevin Golden, Staff Attorney for the Center for Food Safety. “Prime Hook is the tip of the iceberg of a nationwide problem which needs to be addressed at refuges around the country.”
The Delaware Audubon Society explains that, “The Court's decision is clearly a victory in the public interest, an unambiguous statement on government mismanagement, and an indictment against the use of public resources for private economic gain. The decision also sets an important precedent for challenging similar activities on other refuges around the country.”
Resources
PEERS: http://www.peer.org/
Center For Food Safety: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/
Delaware Audubon: http://www.delawareaudubon.org/
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