{"id":11746,"date":"2013-08-29T00:01:46","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T04:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=11746"},"modified":"2013-08-29T09:18:18","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T13:18:18","slug":"lawsuit-filed-to-halt-ge-crops-on-wildlife-refuges-in-the-midwest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2013\/08\/lawsuit-filed-to-halt-ge-crops-on-wildlife-refuges-in-the-midwest\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit Filed to Halt GE Crops on Wildlife Refuges in the Midwest"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides<\/i>, August 29, 2013) A federal lawsuit<\/a> was filed on Tuesday to stop the planting of genetically engineered (GE) crops and restrict the widespread use of pesticides in national wildlife refuges in the Midwest Region. The lawsuit seeks to \u00a0enforce the legal requirement \u00a0that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which operates the refuges, conducts a comprehensive environmental review \u00a0and halts GE crops on these sites until environmental compliance standards are fully met.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by Beyond Pesticides, Center for Food Safety (CFS), Public Employees for \"Young<\/a>Environmental Responsibility (PEER), and the Sierra Club. It states that FWS illegally entered into Cooperative Farming Agreements with private parties on five refuges in the four states of the Midwest Region\u201d\u201dIllinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri\u201d\u201d allowing land in the region to be to be plowed over and planted with GE crops without the environmental review required by the National Environmental Policy Act<\/i> (NEPA) and the Refuge Improvement Act<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenetically engineered crops and pesticides have no place in the wildlife refuges, but must \u00a0be subject to clear standards of environmental protection. These refuges serve an integral function of preserving and fostering endangered species,\u201d said Jay Feldman, executive director at Beyond Pesticides. \u201cThe cultivation of GE crops and pesticide use in refuges is a contradiction to FWS\u2019 mission to restore degraded or modified habitats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is the fifth filed by these groups, challenging the planting of GE crops on refuges. In January 2011<\/a>, FWS agreed to stop planting GE crops on all its refuges in twelve Northeastern states, following a settlement agreement that challenged the approval of GE planting in two wildlife refuges in Delaware. The suit was followed by a ruling<\/a> that barred FWS from entering into Cooperative Farming Agreements in 128 refuges across eight states in the Southeast. Unfortunately, a separate ruling<\/a> in October 2012 found that the FWS Environmental Assessment for GE planting in the Midwest region was adequate. So, it is yet to be seen whether this newest lawsuit will successfully stop GE planting in refuges in the Midwest.<\/p>\n

Aside from charges that FWS stop GE planting, the lawsuit challenges the use of harmful pesticides that peer-reviewed science has shown to:<\/p>\n