08/15/07 Monsanto appealing injunction against Roundup Ready alfalfa

Farm and Ranch August 15, 2007 Earlier this year a U.S. District Court in California imposed an injunction on the further sale and planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa seed. That came as the result of a lawsuit filed by the Center for Food Safety and others, including an alfalfa grower from Oregon. The court ordered the USDA to complete an Environmental Impact Statement on the alfalfa. Monsanto spokesperson Michael Doane says Monsanto has filed a notice of appeal with the court seeking to overturn the injunction. Doane: "The injunction prohibits the planting and sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa while this EIS is completed. We think the appeal will be successful based on the fact that we think inappropriate legal standards were used as the basis for the injunction and that has resulted in really unnecessary restrictions on thousands of growers who want to use this important technology." Doane says they can't predict when a decision on the appeal will be rendered and in the meantime it is important to fully cooperate with the existing court order. Doane: "It is important to follow the court orders around the injunction which does prohibit the planting and sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa and maintaining any existing Roundup Ready fields per USDA's administrative orders. We intend to comply and urge farmers to do so as well." Monsanto is cooperating with USDA and helping the department complete the environmental assessment as soon as possible. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.