Take Action Now!

Please ask your member of Congress to oppose including Section 733 in H.R. 5973, the FY 2013 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

 If you are concerned about the health of your children and your grandchildren, take heed of an attempt to include Section 733 in H.R. 5973 in any omnibus spending bill, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) warns. 

He describes Section 733 as “a dangerous policy rider intended to weaken the ability of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the judicial branch to protect our nation’s agriculture sector.

If you are concerned about the health of your children and your grandchildren, take heed of an attempt to include Section 733 in H.R. 5973 in any omnibus spending bill, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) warns.
He describes Section 733 as “a dangerous policy rider intended to weaken the ability of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the judicial branch to protect our nation’s agriculture sector.
“In recent years,” DeFazio notes, federal courts have ruled that several USDA approvals of genetically engineered (GE) crops have “violated the law and required further study of their economic, health and environmental impacts.” Their judgments came down at odds with the manufacturers of GE seed, and that continued planting “may cause harm to the environment and/or farmers.”  They ordered interim planting restrictions on future plantings; however, they did allow continued cultivation of those already planted, pending further USDA analysis.
Section 733 is specifically intended to:

• Prohibit federal courts from imposing reasonable restrictions when a GE crop approval is deemed unlawful and potentially hazardous;
• Eliminate the critical roles of our most important  environmental laws;
• Remove federal agency discretion over GE crop approvals; and
• Establish a backdoor approval mechanism for unlawfully approved GE crops

“Judicial review is an essential element of U.S. law, providing a critical and impartial check on government decisions that may negatively impact human health, the environment or livelihoods. Inclusion of this rider,” DeFazio said, “is a brazen overreach into the authority of the independent judiciary and its ability to protect the rights of all Americans.”