Center for Food Safety

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is a 501c3, U.S. non-profit advocacy organization, based in Washington, D.C. It maintains an office in San Francisco, California. The executive director is Andrew Kimbrell, an attorney. Its stated mission is to protect human health and the environment, focusing on food production technologies such as genetically modified plants and organisms (GMOs). It was founded in 1997.[1]

Center for Food Safety
AbbreviationCFS
Founded atWashington, D.C.
Type501c3 non-profit
Purposefood production technologies
Locations
Key people
Andrew Kimbrell (Executive Director)

Program services

The largest program services conducted by the Center for Food Safety include:

CFS has participated in legal actions against manufacturers of genetically modified crops, such as GE (genetically engineered) alfalfa, wheat, rice, beets, and claims to have successfully stopped the commercialization of at least seven of these in the US. This includes the introduction of controversial Pharming plants (GE plants which produce biopharmaceuticals).[2]

The CFS has also been an advocate for GE food labeling at both the state and federal level, pushing for new legislation and generating public support across the country for the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action.[3]

In addition to its work on GE foods, the Center for Food Safety has filed numerous legal petitions concerning the food industry, to halt the use of dangerous feed additives in industrial livestock,[4][5] and to protect pollinators from toxic pesticides.[6]

Executive director Andrew Kimbrell

The center's executive director is Andrew Kimbrell, a public interest attorney, environmental activist, and author.[7] He is the founder of the International Center for Technology Assessment.[8]

As Senior Attorney and Policy Director for the Foundation for Economic Trends, Kimbrell initiated several federal court cases. Many of these were against governmental agencies. He was able to successfully appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court as part of a coalition of organizations, resulting in the regulation of motor vehicles carbon dioxide pollution under the Clean Air Act.[9][10]

Kimbrell appears on Utne Reader’s list of the world's leading 100 visionaries,[11] and The Guardian recognized him in 2008 as one of the 50 people who could save the planet.[12] He is also frequent contributor to documentaries, including the 2004 film The Future of Food.[13]

The Center for Food Safety has been an associated party in challenges against the planting of genetically modified crops in the US.

Alfalfa

In April, 2004, Monsanto petitioned the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for deregulation of their product Roundup Ready Alfalfa (RRA). After performing an Environmental Assessment, APHIS deregulated the product in 2005. In 2006, this decision was challenged by Geertson Seed Farms and other parties including the Center for Food Safety.[14] This led to a decision by the US District Court of San Francisco to suspend the deregulated status of RRA and place an injunction on the sale and planting of RRA until the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement.[14][15]

The US Supreme Court reversed the District Court decision in 2010, in the case of Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms. This 7-1 decision in favor of Monsanto Company declared the injunction against RRA invalid, allowing the sale and planting of the product; it did not, however, restore the deregulated status of the crop.[15] Upon completion of the Environmental Impact Statement, RRA was officially deregulated in January 2011.[16]

The Center for Food Safety also launched a separate lawsuit against RRA in the case Center for Food Safety v. Vilsack, in October, 2012. The CFS alleged that RRA had been improperly reviewed by APHIS, arguing that it should be considered a "Plant Pest" under the Plant Protection Act. In 2013 the United States District Court of San Francisco issued a ruling for the case in favor of the defendant, Thomas Vilsack, Secretary of APHIS.[17]

Sugar beets

In 2009–2010, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California has been considering the case involving the planting of genetically modified sugar beets. This case involves Monsanto's breed of pesticide-resistant sugar beets. This lawsuit was also organised by Center for Food Safety.

Earlier in 2010, Judge Jeffrey S. White allowed the planting of GM sugar beets to continue, but he also warned that this may be blocked in the future while an environmental review was taking place. Finally, on 13 August 2010, Judge White ordered the halt to the planting of the genetically modified sugar beets in the US. He indicated that "the Agriculture Department had not adequately assessed the environmental consequences before approving them for commercial cultivation".[18]

The herbicide and pesticide chemical arms race

In a 2012 article on the Huffington Post blog, Kimbrell noted that Monsanto developed soy, corn and cotton resistant to 2,4-D which would cause a switch in herbicide usage towards more 2,4-D.[19]

These developments have been made to combat newly resistant weeds and insects, immune to developed pesticides and herbicides, which became "a problem needing national attention" according to a National Academy of Sciences committee.[19]

Kimbrell's most alarming claim is that according to some, the reliance on this non-diverse type of grain, may be "a threat to global food production".[19][20]

One month later, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided to reaffirm its denial of the petition, and to allow continued usage of these chemicals,[21] and in 2014 the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave a green light to allow the seeds to be used.[22]

Criticism

The Center for Global Food Issues (CGFI), a pro genetically-engineered food organisation, claims that in one case, Kimbrell was said to have released a baseless food poisoning scare in the Wall Street Journal, following a request to exempt Monsanto from recalling of CANOLA oil from seed with a not yet US approved gene, (although approved in Canada) found in small quantities in their oil, after deciding to concentrate on a different gene that had similar results.[23]

GE crop development scientists, molecular biologists, pro GE organisations, and the broader scientific community disagree with anti GE organisations such as the CFS, and argue that the FDA and the courts are careful, scientific and truthful, and that most of the anti GE claims from organisations like CFS are based on emotion, on misrepresented facts and not on science and the scientific method nor do they reflect the consensus held among scientists regarding GE crops.[24]

References
  1. "Center for Food Safety: FWS Campaign to Save Monarchs is Inadequate, Misses Major Driver in Population Decline". Common Dreams. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  2. "No paradise for pharming". The Scientist. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
  3. Vermont gov signs law to require labels on GMO foods (May 2014, USA Today website)
  4. "Vermont gov signs law to require labels on GMO foods". USA Today. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
  5. "Center for Food Safety - News Room - FDA to Withdraw Approvals of Arsenic in Animal Feed". Center for Food Safety. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  6. Beekeepers and Public Interest Groups Sue EPA Over Bee-Toxic Pesticides, a 'Pesticide Activation Network' document promoting alternative pesticides. (University of Minnesota entomology department website)
  7. "Andrew Kimbrell". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
  8. "Technotopia, Andrew Kimbrell, The dark side of technology". YES! Magazine. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
  9. "American Coalition for Ethanol" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-13.
  10. Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, Supreme court opinion, page 7. Accessed on 2014-10-08
  11. "Utne Visionary: Andrew Kimbrell". Utne Reader. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  12. 50 people who could save the planet (The Guardian website)
  13. "The Future of Food Resources". thefutureoffood.com. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  14. "GEERTSON SEED FARMS DC DC v. JOHANNS". Findlaw. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  15. Supreme Court Lifts Ban on Planting GM Alfalfa New York Times, Energy & Environment, Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  16. "USDA Announces Decision to Fully Deregulate Roundup Ready Alfalfa - USDA Newsroom". usda.gov. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  17. Center for Food Safety v. Vilsack (17 May 2013).
  18. Judge Revokes Approval of Modified Sugar Beets, by ANDREW POLLACK, New York Times, August 13, 2010
  19. Less than One Month to Comment on Corn Resistant to Agent Orange Herbicide 2,4-D, On the chemical arms race with weeds (May 2012, Huffington Post website)
  20. According to Gene amplification delivers glyphosate-resistant weed evolution, by Professor Stephen B. Powels of the University of Western Australia
  21. EPA first denial of petition Archived May 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine April 2012
  22. Agent Orange GMO? After USDA backs 2,4-D seeds, Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle lead activist hype of discredited link (Forbes website)
  23. Anti biotech group scares Wall Street Journal Archived May 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (CGFI Website) The FDA according to this article replied that there was no need for concern, for several detailed reasons given in the article.
  24. Food Safety: Focus on Real Risks, Not Fake Ones (Academics Review)
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