Stock will remain in storage at least through February

By WES SANDER

Capital Press

A federal appeals court has extended its order preventing the destruction of Roundup Ready sugar beet stecklings.

The stecklings -- root stock for plants that would produce Roundup Ready seed for the 2011 crop -- are allowed to remain in storage through February "or until further order," allowing time for litigants to make arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Defendant USDA and the seed industry have appealed the ruling, delivered in early December by federal Judge Jeffrey White, to uproot and destroy the stecklings. The destruction was to have been completed by mid-month, but the Ninth Circuit halted it.

In August, White revoked the federal deregulation of seeds and crops containing Monsanto Co.'s Roundup Ready trait, pending a new environmental study. Three weeks later, USDA issued permits to four seed companies to plant biotech stecklings.

White had deferred to USDA on how to regulate the crop during the expected two years required for the environmental work. But the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, Sierra Club and High Mowing Organic Seeds sued to revoke the permits, saying they defied White's deregulation decision. White agreed to destroying the stecklings before the case progressed.

The stecklings are normally replanted in January and February to grow seed-producing plants. Their destruction would make the seed supply for 2012 uncertain. Most stecklings could be safely removed from the ground by the end of the year.