For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Genetic Engineering page, and our Millions Against Monsanto page.

The Obama Administration’s landmark decision last month to overrule the ban on genetically-modified (GM) alfalfa will likely go down in the books as one of the administration’s biggest betrayals of the natural health community. But a grassroots campaign currently underway by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is seeking to essentially “overrule” the overruling on the local level, or at least put enough pressure on local and state lawmakers, as well as health food retailers like Whole Foods Market, to label GMO products so consumers can make educated decisions about the foods they buy — and thus eventually rid the market of GMOs completely.

Former Iowa governor and staunch biotechnology industry lapdog Tom Vilsack, who currently happens to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary, went against everything Obama and his mouthpieces promised concerning GMOs on the campaign trail, and conceded to Monsanto’s demands to fully deregulate GM alfalfa. The decision came after many months of deliberation in court over the matter, as the USDA initially deregulated GM alfalfa without a proper Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) proving its safety.

USDA scientists were unable to ever prove that GM alfalfa was safe, however, and what they did find actually reinforces the concerns brought forth by those opposed to GM alfalfa. The perennial plant is highly contagious, they admit, in that its pollen and other materials easily contaminate nearby crops, including those several miles away. And since alfalfa is a primary feed stuff for the nation’s conventional livestock, the spread of GM alfalfa and its contamination of other crops is a very real and highly-disturbing threat.