Seed Sovereignty, Food Security by Vandana Shiva

Author:Vandana Shiva [Shiva, Vandana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781623170288
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 2015-12-17T05:00:00+00:00

Current Situation

US civil society has initiated its own legal challenges in response to seed industry practices. Most of such challenges are focused on GE seeds, given that patents for this technology serve as the primary gateway to seed ownership and monopolies. During the last five to ten years, litigation challenging the commercial approval of GE crops has been somewhat successful. Much of it has centered on the USDA’s lack of meaningful analysis of the adverse environmental and economic impacts of GE crops in determining approval of crops for either testing or commercialization. As a result of civil society’s successful legal challenges, US courts now must recognize as “legal harms” the numerous adverse impacts of GE crops, such as the transgenic contamination of natural crops and wild plants. Thus, legal challenges by farmer, consumer, and public interest environmental advocacy groups on GE biopharmaceutical crops, GE bentgrass, GE alfalfa, and GE sugar beets have successfully established that the USDA must undertake meaningful, rigorous risk analyses regarding the risk of contamination when considering approvals or testing of GE organisms. These lawsuits established locus standi for farmers and environmental advocates to seek compensation or relief in US courts for the harms of GE crops, as well as be granted various forms of equitable relief (e.g., compensation) based on violations of the law.

In response, agribusiness has pumped up its volume of legal and political engagement. Millions of dollars spent in lobbying and the now well-entrenched “revolving door” syndrome seems to be paying off in terms of ensuring seed monopolies. Government agencies hire industry representatives from agribusiness and biotech firms and, in turn, these corporations recruit staff from government agencies. Numerous scientists, lawyers, and other professionals move seamlessly between employment at agribusiness/biotech companies and government agencies, compromising the regulatory system and undermining the efforts of civil society groups.

On the direct lobbying front, food and agricultural biotechnology firms spent more than $547 million lobbying Congress between 1999 and 2009, rising from $35 million in 1999 to $71 million in 2009—an increase of 102.8 percent. In 2010 alone, ag-biotech companies contracted more than one hundred lobbying firms, in addition to employing in-house lobbyists. Additionally, millions have been spent to fund political campaigns; in 1999, more than $22 million was contributed by biotechnology corporations via political action committees (PACs).18

Such influence seems to have swayed recent policy decisions within the US government, often circumventing or contravening prior court decisions. For example, in early 2011, the USDA approved unrestricted, nationwide commercial planting of Monsanto’s GE alfalfa, even though its own analyses and conclusions demonstrated that the approval would cause significant harm to organic and conventional alfalfa farmers and dairies, as well as to exporters. This decision is now under court challenge by civil society groups.

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