House Hearing on USDA Failure on GE Contamination Farmer to Farmer Campaign on Genetic Engineering
MEDIA ADVISORY

HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE CONDUCTS HEARINGS ON FAILURE OF USDA TO CONSIDER BILLIONS IN COSTS TO AMERICA'S FARMERS CAUSED BY CONTAMINATION BY GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS

What: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, will conduct a hearing focused on the USDA's failure to comply with NEPA requirements regarding the assessment of economic impacts in regulating genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Where: 2247 Rayburn Office Building
When: Thursday - March 13, 2008 @ 2:00 pm EDT
Who: Those giving testimony include a panel of farmers, consisting of:

Harvey Howington - a rice farmer, US Rice Producers Association board member, and Vice President of the Arkansas Rice Growers Association, who will comment on USDA mismanagement of Bayer LL601 field trials, which resulted in a major contamination event costing rice producers $1.2 billion.

Todd Leake - a wheat farmer and member of Dakota Resource Council, he will focus on the USDA's failure to consider significant potential for market loss posed by deregulation of Monsanto's Roundup Ready Wheat, which is opposed by 82% of wheat buyers and would have resulted in a 32 to 35% decrease in the price paid to wheat growers.

Fred Kirschenmann - an organic farmer and manager of a 3,500 acre family farm in North Dakota and a distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center (IA State University), he will focus on USDA failure to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement prior to deregulation of Roundup Ready canola despite the high potential for widespread contamination in the US and Canada, which ultimately resulted. He will also discuss the economic impacts on organic producers caused by GE crops.

Also speaking:
Ray Clark, for NEPA Director and Council on Environmental Quality member Colin Carter, UC Davis Agricultural Economist # # #

For more information, please contact:
Bill Wenzel, Farmer to Farmer Campaign on Genetic Engineering, cell (608) 444-0292.
John Bianchi, Goodman Media - (212) 576-2700 Harvey Howington - cell (870) 375-4278 Fred Kirschenmann - cell (515) 450-2330 Todd Leake - cell (218) 289-3947
Farmer to Farmer Campaign on Genetic Engineering A project of the National Family Farm Coalition PO Box 272: Stoughton, WI 53589 877-968-3276; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.