[PCA] Fwd: AHPA Update: AHPA submits comments on agricultural coexistence; calls on USDA to establish "non-GMO" food labels and to require GMO farmers to create buffer zones to prevent drift

De Angelis, Patricia patricia_deangelis at fws.gov
Fri May 15 11:15:55 CDT 2015


The potential impacts of genetic drift and gene pollution from cultivars or
otherwise modified plant species on the integrity of native species has
been a topic of discussion and debate for some time.  So I thought that
this message may be of interest to this listserve.

As a bit of background, medicinal plants that are intended for human
consumption are regulated as food in the United States. As such, issues
that impact our food system (i.e., agricultural production systems) also
impact the medicinal plant industry. The American Herbal Products
Association (AHPA) is a national trade association that represents many in
the herbal products industry.

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist, US Fish & Wildlife Service-Division of Scientific Authority
Chair, Plant Conservation Alliance-Medicinal Plant Working Group
703-358-1708 x 1753


---------- Forwarded message ----------

May 14, 2015

*   AHPA submits comments on agricultural coexistence; calls on USDA to
establish "non-GMO" food labels and to require GMO farmers to create buffer
zones to prevent drift *



The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) submitted comments this
week on the subject of "agricultural coexistence" to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's (USDA's) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
USDA describes this term to mean "the concurrent cultivation of
conventional, organic, identity-preserved, and genetically engineered crops
consistent with farmer choices and consumer preferences," and the agency
has maintained a focus on this subject for the last several years.



AHPA comments stress that mitigating the risk of unintentional genetically
modified organism (GMO) presence should be a top priority and that
responsibility for mitigation, and for failure to mitigate, should be borne
by owners and farmers of GMO crops. Similarly, AHPA's comments assert that
responsibility to mitigate pesticide drift should be borne by farmers who
use pesticides.



"There has been a lot of discussion on how farmers should be compensated if
unwanted GMO material or pesticides end up on an organic or non-GMO farm,"
noted Michael McGuffin, AHPA's president. "Our comments suggest more
attention on avoiding farm-to-farm drift by having farms that grow GMO
crops or use pesticides support coexistence with preventive actions."



Specifically, AHPA's comments  express the view that "adequate measures,
such as buffer zones or windbreaks, should be required on farms on which
GMO crops are cultivated and that these farms should be responsible to
ensure that such measures are sufficient to prevent unintended GMO drift
beyond the farm's boundaries." The comments also request that USDA
establish such a requirement for GMO farms "if this is within the agency's
current regulatory authority, or ... seek this authority from the U.S.
Congress if necessary."



AHPA's comments also cite comments made by Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack at March meeting on agricultural coexistence, in which Vilsack
stated: "Consumers ... have a right to know about their food ... and how it
is cultivated."



The comments reiterate AHPA's longstanding support for a USDA mandated
voluntary non-GMO labeling program, and encourage USDA to "recognize that
any crop or agricultural product produced in compliance with the National
Organic Program (NOP) that may be labeled as '100 percent organic' or
'organic' should also be allowed to be labeled as 'non-GMO' or a similar
term as USDA may come to define."


Download AHPA's comments >>
<http://www.ahpa.org/Portals/0/pdfs/15_0511_AHPA_Comments_APHIS_Coexistence.pdf>

      (
http://www.ahpa.org/Portals/0/pdfs/15_0511_AHPA_Comments_APHIS_Coexistence.pdf
)


American Herbal Products Association | 8630 Fenton St. | Suite 918 | Silver
Spring | MD | 20910
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