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Right now, if farmers, food companies, retailers or consumers are harmed by contamination or loss of their markets, it is virtually impossible for them to recover from these damages.

Neither the U.S. federal govern-ment nor EU authorities have dealt with this burden, even as the USDA continues to approve a steady stream of new GM crops for cultivation.

Regulating authorities must address the issue of liability for contamination by GM crops and require that the costs of GM contamina- tion be borne by the biotech companies that created the technology and hold the patents on these seeds.

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The biotechnology industry is aggressively promoting the environmental sustainability of genetically modified (GM) crops. The industry claims that GM crops can reduce herbicide use, increase yields to feed a hungry planet, and develop new crops that are adapted to climate change.

Monsanto advertises that biotech crops can feed the world “from a raindrop,” suggesting that GM crops are especially climate change resistant. But this greenwashing doesn’t change the reality of “agribusiness as usual:” using GM crops along with more agrochemicals, more fossil fuels and more intensive agricultural production.

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In 1977, Congress passed a set of amendments to the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Together, the original act and the amendments came to be known as the Clean Water Act (CWA). The CWA set a strong and simple standard that polluting is illegal, and that the national goal is zero discharge of pollution into our public waterways. Failing achievement of zero discharge, the CWA set limits on discharges.

Some of those limits were straightforward. If a pipe lets out on a waterway, the CWA limits what can come from that pipe. It also ensures a cleaner future environment by requiring new permits that continue to ratchet down discharges using the “Best Available Technology.” That sort of direct pollution is referred to as point source pollution, as the pollution comes from a single source, and is regulated under the CWA. However, many non-point sources of pollution exist under less stringent CWA controls. For example, many row crops are largely unregulated under the CWA.

When it comes to labeling genetically engineered (GE) foods, the United States lags behind nearly 50 developed nations, including all European Union member states, Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The European Union requires all food, animal feeds and processed products with biotech content to bear GE labels.

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