Washington, DC
January 7, 2008
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is
seeking public comment to shape the scope of an environmental
impact statement (EIS). The EIS is prepared to assist in the
determination of the status of genetically engineered (GE)
Roundup Ready (RR) alfalfa under APHIS biotechnology
regulations.
Due to a court order, APHIS will prepare the EIS to evaluate
potential environmental effects of deregulating the GE alfalfa.
APHIS has identified 18 issues that will be studied in the EIS,
which include impacts on food and feed, U.S. trade and
threatened and endangered species. APHIS is seeking public
comment to identify other issues that also should be addressed
in the EIS.
In 2003, the Monsanto Company and Forage Genetics International
submitted a petition to APHIS requesting nonregulated status for
RR alfalfa lines J101 and J163. APHIS prepared an environmental
assessment (EA) to determine whether deregulating the alfalfa,
genetically engineered to resist the herbicide glyphosate (known
commercially as Roundup), could have a significant impact on the
environment. After a thorough review of the scientific evidence
APHIS issued a finding of no significant impact and deregulated
the lines on June 14, 2005. APHIS makes a determination of
nonregulated status only when it can conclude that the organism
does not pose a plant pest risk.
To comply with a judgment and order by the United States
District Court for the Northern District of California, APHIS
now must prepare an EIS in support of its 2005 decision to
deregulate RR alfalfa. The court did not overturn federal
conclusions regarding the safety of the crop for food and feed
purposes, but rather concluded that APHIS had not adequately
documented potential, or lack of potential environmental
impacts. On March 23, 2007, APHIS published a Federal Register
notice announcing that RR alfalfa was once again a regulated
article. A future decision regarding the deregulation of RR
alfalfa will be issued only after the completion of the
appropriately documented EIS.
For more information on RR
alfalfa, go to
www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/alfalfa.shtml.
Notice of this action was published in the Jan. 7 Federal
Register. Consideration will be given to comments received on or
before Feb. 6. Send an original and two copies of postal mail or
commercial delivery comments to Docket No. APHIS-2007-0142,
Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station
3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.
Comments also can be submitted on the Federal eRulemaking portal
at
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2007-0142.
Click on “Add Comments” to view public comments and related
materials available electronically.
Comments are posted on the Regulations.gov Web site and also can
be viewed at USDA, Room 1141, South Building, 14th St. and
Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C., between 8 a.m. and
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. To
facilitate entry into the comment reading room, please call
(202) 690-2817. |
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