A federal judge has halted an attempt to grow banned genetically modified sugar beets in the United States.

The herbicide-tolerant beets represent a whopping 95% of the sugar beets sold in the US and about half of the sugar. The were first brought to the market in 2007 but last August the DC-based Center for Food Safety and other advocacy organizations successfully sued to ban the beets, pointing out that an environmental impact statement has not yet been completed, as US law requires.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) nevertheless allowed farmers to plant “stecklings” of Roundup Ready Beets, which include a gene conferring tolerance to glyphosate, a herbicide. Stecklings don’t grow up to be beets for sale themselves, but after a fall growing season, a winter spent in storage, and a spring growing season they produce plants that make seed. The USDA argued that the fall steckling planting was separate from the rest of the sugar beet production cycle, and that the decision about whether to allow the stecklings to be replanted in spring or whether to allow the seeds to be sold could be made later.

Federal District Judge Jeffrey S. White disagreed, and on 30 November ordered that the all the Roundup Ready beet stecklings be destroyed, citing “significant risk that the plantings pursuant to the permits will cause environmental harm.” In particular, the judge was worried about the “contamination” of other related species, including table beets and chard, with the glyphosphate tolerance gene through cross-pollination. Destroying the stecklings in question will affect the 2012 sugar beet crop.

“This is a groundbreaking victory—pun intended—for farmers and for the environment,” says George Kimbrell, senior staff attorney at the Center for Food Safety.

The stecklings don’t have to be dug up just yet, however. Judge White has put off the day of de-beeting until 6 December, in the expectation that defendants will file for a stay pending appeal of his verdict.

Indeed, Monsanto has already announced it will appeal the ruling, which it says “overlooked the factual evidence presented that no harm would be caused by these plantings.”

Meanwhile the USDA is accepting comments until 6 December on an environmental assessment examining whether the beets should be granted a “partial deregulation” pending a full environmental impact statement.

Photo courtesy of Monsanto Company© 2009