A federal judge has ruled that the government illegally approved genetically engineered sugar beets without adequately considering the chance that they will contaminate other beet crops. Judge Jeffrey S. White emphasized that “the potential elimination of a farmer’s choice to grow non-genetically engineered crops, or a consumer’s choice to eat non-genetically engineered food, and an action that potentially eliminates or reduces the availability of a particular plant, has a significant effect on the human environment.”
Despite the ruling, American Crystal Sugar, the nation's largest sugar beet processor, is still pro-GE. American Crystal President David Berg told the New York Times he thought customer acceptance of GE sugar was "a big nonevent."
A big nonevent? Maybe if most consumers don't know what's happening. Products containing GE sugar aren't labeled (neither are all the foods with ingredients made from GE corn, soy, cotton and canola, and milk produced with the use of genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, rBGH). Research for the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that even though an estimated three-quarters of processed food on grocery store shelves contains genetically engineered ingredients, only 24 percent of survey respondents believed they had eaten such food.
Tell American Crystal that you will avoid GE sugar by buying certified organic food (GE is banned from organic) and boycotting all non-organic brands that don't assure consumers that their sugar is GMO-free.
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