Battling GE Crops in National Wildlife Refuges

“… a coalition of environmental and food groups including the Center for Food Safety, Delaware Audubon, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) recently won a battle against GE crops… 

 “National wildlife refuges — areas protected by the federal government as wildlife reserves — have actually allowed farming inside their limits for quite some time. The growing of food crops inside these natural havens helps to prepare and seed native grasslands and provide food for birds. However, in recent years these areas have been taken over by unwelcome intruders — GE crops.

“Most of the farming that goes on now within national wildlife refuges is the growing of GE crops, a process that could be disastrous for the plants, animals, and insects that call these areas home. Growing GE crops tends to to involve the use of noxious chemicals like Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. These herbicides can contaminate sensitive soil and nearby waterways while poisoning wildlife. The extensive use of agrochemicals can also spawn herbicide-resistant superweeds that choke out native plants that serve an invaluable role in the local ecosystem. 

“GE crops will get the boot from Northeastern wildlife refuges, but these plants are still sprouting in as many as 75 natural wildlife refuges in the Southern states. “

(Source: news.change.org)