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Surprising as it may seem, the answer could be “yes!”

In the waning months of the Bush Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a proposal to completely overhaul its regulation of genetically engineered crops, significantly weakening its oversight.  No longer would USDA start from the assumption that a new GE crop must be regulated; and some could be exempted altogether.  The proposed rule would virtually ensure that contamination of organic and conventional crops will become even more frequent, and even excuses the Agency from taking any action to remedy such contamination. And, the rule would continue to allow the dangerous practice of producing drugs and industrial chemicals in food crops grown in the open environment. In short, if implemented, the proposed rule would allow the wholesale deregulation of the agricultural biotechnology industry.

Over four years ago, USDA promised stricter oversight of genetically engineered crops; unfortunately, improvements considered early on have vanished and the regulations have instead become weaker.  The proposed rule now has even more gaping holes than the regulations it is replacing, and creates a few new ones as well, resulting in more public exposure to untested and unlabeled genetically engineered foods.  Instead of tightening controls to protect the public and the environment from contamination and harm, what USDA has offered further endangers the public’s right to choose the foods families eat and farmers’ right to their chosen livelihoods.

To make matters worse, USDA published the rule before publishing the full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), as required by law, and in the absence of public review of the data needed to make regulatory recommendations.  Clearly, there is something wrong with this picture.  We are calling on the Obama Administration to reject the irresponsible Bush “anything goes” biotech policy.  And we are requesting a moratorium on commercial planting of any new GE crops until comprehensive regulations are in place.

The good news is that USDA has reopened the comment period on the proposed rule and we are seizing this opportunity to ask the new Administration to take a fresh look at how GE crops are regulated.  We urge our supporters to join us in demanding that the Agency release the EIS for public comment before it proceeds with any further rule-making or GE crop approvals. USDA has just announced a scoping meeting to be held Friday, March 13th in DC, with April meeting(s) to follow. The coment period has been extended for 60 days past the April meeting(s).

Tell USDA to: (1) Withdraw the proposed rule; (2) Release the EIS for public review and comment and to be used as a basis for further rule-making; and (3) Suspend all new GE crop approvals until the above has been satisfactorily completed and unless and until GE crops are proven safe.