This is a significant victory for organic farmers, not to mention you and me!

On May 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a summary order in favor of farmers and consumer advocates, requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prepare a rigorous environmental study of the impacts of genetically modified (GM) sugar beets.

Once that review is done, the Court will decide whether GM sugar beets may be grown for commercial use. The USDA has estimated it will complete the Environmental Impact Statement sometime in 2012.

True Food Now quotes the Center for Food Safety's (CFS) attorney George Kimbrell as saying:

"Today's order cements a critical legal benchmark in the battle for meaningful oversight of biotech crops and food. Because of this case, there will be public disclosure and debate on the harmful impacts of these pesticide-promoting crops, as well as legal protections for farmers threatened by contamination."

Yes, public disclosure and debate is urgently needed. Genetically modified (GM) foods have been on store shelves for nearly two decades now, yet many people are still completely unaware of their existence, let alone their potential long-term health- and environmental effects!

GM Contamination Threatens Organic Crops—Food Advocates Fight Back

Contamination is one such concern, as we now know GM crops simply cannot be contained. In the case of GM sugar beets, it's not just conventional and organic sugar beets that are threatened. GM sugar beets may also contaminate related crops, such as table beets and chard.

We're also still facing a similar situation with GM alfalfa, which was approved by the USDA in January, without any restrictions whatsoever. I recently reported on the political shenanigans that led to this controversial and shocking decision. The release of GM alfalfa is particularly dangerous because it has the capacity to contaminate not just conventional and organic alfalfa, but also the entire organic dairy and meat industry, since it is used to make hay—a staple livestock feed.

In response, organic farmers and food advocates are now fighting back by suing. George Kimbrell, attorney for the Center for Food Safety's (CFS) recently stated:

"USDA's own analysis shows that contamination will happen. They just wash their hands of it and put that entire burden on the organic or the non-GE farmer. And we think that decision was unlawful."

Hopefully this lawsuit will be equally successful in preventing GM alfalfa from being unleashed.

Keep an Eye on the Wolf!

However, a very important aspect that may complicate matters is the USDA's recent decision to allow biotech giants like Monsanto to perform their own environmental impact studies. This crucial factor is not mentioned in any of the featured articles above, and it could be the death knell for all of the current lawsuits against unrestricted GM plantings.

Currently, the USDA is responsible for assessing environmental impacts of new GM crops, but the agency plans to at least temporarily hand over environmental impact reporting responsibilities to the very creators of the GM crops in question, allegedly in an "effort" to make the reporting process "more timely, efficient, and cost-effective."

This decision is an absolute abomination, fraught with massive conflicts of interest! So it's important to keep a close eye on this proposed two-year pilot program, and pay attention to who is actually doing these environmental impact studies.

Known Environmental Hazards

Although more independent research into the safety and environmental sustainability of GM crops is still needed, the studies that have been done so far indicate that significant harm is being done—to the environment, to wildlife, and potentially to humans at the top of the food chain.

For example, increasingly obvious hazards resulting from GM crops include:

• Roundup-resistant superweeds, which forces farmers to use ever increasing amounts of pesticides and herbicides
• Cross-pollination between GM and non-GM crops that threaten to destroy the organic industry as a whole
• Contamination of waterways with Cry1Ab, a specific type of Bt toxin from GM crops
• Creation of new pest problems
• Roundup herbicide, which is used in increasing amounts of more than 80 percent of all GM crops planted worldwide, has been found to be lethal to frogs and toxic to human placental and embryonic cells

But it doesn't end there...

New Study Finds GM Toxin in Pregnant Women and their Babies

Some GM crops, such as the GM sugar beets and certain varieties of GM corn and soy, are engineered to withstand otherwise lethal doses of Monsanto's herbicide Roundup. Other GM crops, however, are designed to produce their own pesticide internally, and it may be a case of marvelous synchronicity that a new study, published in the journal Reproductive Toxicology this month, addresses the professed "safety" of such GM crops.

Jeffrey Smith with the Institute for Responsible Technology discusses these research findings in a recent blog, stating:

"When U.S. regulators approved Monsanto's genetically modified "Bt" corn, they knew it would add a deadly poison into our food supply. That's what it was designed to do. The corn's DNA is equipped with a gene from soil bacteria called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) that produces the Bt-toxin. It's a pesticide; it breaks open the stomach of certain insects and kills them.

But Monsanto and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) swore up and down that it was only insects that would be hurt. The Bt-toxin, they claimed, would be completely destroyed in the human digestive system and not have any impact on all of us trusting corn-eating consumers.

Oops. A study just proved them wrong.

Doctors at Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec found the corn's Bt-toxin in the blood of pregnant women and their babies, as well as in non-pregnant women."

Bt toxin was identified in:

• 93 percent of 30 pregnant women tested
• 80 percent of umbilical blood
• 67 percent of non-pregnant women

Safety Claims Crumble in Light of New Research Findings

This study may be profoundly important in the fight against GM foods, as it blows a giant hole in the biotech industry's safety claims. According to a recent article in the UK Daily Mail, the study "has triggered calls for a ban on imports and a total overhaul of the safety regime for genetically modified (GM) crops and food" in Great Britain.

These latest findings pile onto a growing body of evidence that GM foods can indeed harm animal and human health. According to Jeffrey Smith:

"There's already plenty of evidence that the Bt-toxin produced in GM corn and cotton plants is toxic to humans and mammals and triggers immune system responses. The fact that it flows through our blood supply, and that is passes through the placenta into fetuses, may help explain the rise in many disorders in the US since Bt crop varieties were first introduced in 1996.

In government-sponsored research in Italy, mice fed Monsanto's Bt corn showed a wide range of immune responses. Their elevated IgE and IgG antibodies, for example, are typically associated with allergies and infections. The mice had an increase in cytokines, which are associated with "allergic and inflammatory responses."

As I've explained in numerous articles, chronic inflammation is at the root of many increasingly common diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. Food allergies are also skyrocketing; as is infertility, which could also be a potential side effect of GM foods, based on results from animal studies...

Although GM giants like Monsanto insist that GM foods are no different from conventionally grown varieties, the research does NOT support this claim. Here is just a sampling of the unsavory findings associated with GM foods:

Together We CAN DEFEAT GM Foods!

Remember, Europe was able to ban GM crops and get mandatory labeling for imported GM foods over a decade ago, all without any government assistance. Simply educating the consumers was enough to pressure the food industry to stop using GM ingredients.

So, the sooner you get involved, the sooner we will eliminate these toxic threats in the US as well. We will require loads of education to be effective, however. And a first step is educating sufficient amounts of people about what GM foods are! Because many are still completely clueless about genetically modified foods and have no idea that they're eating them every day, and have been eating them for years!

In a nutshell, if you're eating CAFO meats and processed foods that are not 100% USDA Organic, you're eating GMO's. It's that simple.

The answer is to buy organic, and/or look for foods that are "non-GMO certified" by the Non-GMO Project. For your convenience, download this Non-GMO Shopping Guide, and share it with everyone you know.

Although GM foods still do not require labeling by law, the campaign for GMO labeling is making progress, thanks to the persistence of Jeffrey Smith and the Institute for Responsible Technology, an organization whose goal is to end the genetic engineering of our food supply and the outdoor release of GM crops. If you like, you can join the fight by signing the petition to President Obama in support of mandatory labeling of GM foods.

By educating the public about the risks of GM foods through a massive education campaign, and by circulating the Non-GMO Shopping Guide so consumers can make healthier non-GMO choices, the Institute's plan is to generate a tipping point of consumer rejection to make GMOs a thing of the past.

Remember food is a critical part of the equation of "Taking Control of Your Health", you simply must get it right if you want any real chance of avoiding chronic degenerative disease.

For ongoing updates on this cause, please follow our Non-GMO's page on Facebook.