Sonoma County efforts to ban GMOs continue despite new study

A decade-old movement to ban genetically modified products from Sonoma County is continuing forward despite a widely publicized, comprehensive new report concluding that there currently exists no “persuasive evidence” of human health risks or adverse environmental effects directly related to genetically engineered foods.

The nearly 400-page study was released Tuesday by an expert committee assembled by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, garnering nationwide headlines about the safety of genetically altered plants, though the report was far more nuanced and acknowledged limits on what can be known about long-term, synergistic impacts. GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, have been widely used only since the mid-1990s.

The study’s authors said they specifically avoided “sweeping, generalized statements about the benefits or adverse effects of GE crops, concluding that, for a number of reasons, such statements are not helpful,” despite what committee Chairman Fred Gould, a professor of insect ecology and evolution at North Carolina State University, described as “impassioned requests to give the public a simple, general, authoritative answer about GE crops.”

Locals aligned with the ?anti-GMO movement said they don’t think the findings will affect their campaign to join Sonoma County with several others in the region that already prohibit genetically engineered crops and seeds within their boundaries. And none showed any signs of reconsidering their own positions, either.

“I guess they’re not reading the same studies I’m reading,” said Santa Rosa resident Linda Deer Domnitz, who helped collect signatures for the county anti-GMO initiative.

Citizens for Healthy Farms and Families, sponsor of the proposed Transgenic Contamination Prevention Ordinance, already has obtained enough signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

But its members are hoping Sonoma County supervisors will adopt the proposed ordinance outright at their Tuesday meeting, when they are scheduled to receive and review a report from the University of California Cooperative Extension analyzing the measure’s potential land use, local business and enforcement cost implications.

The new National Academy of Sciences study notwithstanding, campaign coordinator Karen Hudson said she has assessed peer-reviewed animal testing studies that she deems sufficiently reliable to suggest there are indeed health risks associated with consumption of genetically modified foods.

But she said the local initiative is directed primarily at protecting local farmers from pollen and seed transfer that can contaminate conventional or organic crops and pastures.

A big supporter of the initiative, Straus Family Creamery founder and Chief Executive Officer Albert Straus said Thursday that he, for instance, had been battling GMO-tainted feed labeled certified organic since 2005, when screening was first developed, a result of drift and cross-contamination somewhere in the supply line.

Most corn, soybeans and cotton grown in the United States is now genetically modified.

But in Sonoma County, 80 percent of the dairies are certified organic, Straus said, and they and other farmers could jeopardize their standing under U.S. Department of Agriculture standards if something isn’t done to protect them.

“GMOs are a threat to their livelihood,” Straus said.

The measure is similar to one rejected by Sonoma County voters in 2005. Defeated by a 56 percent to ?44 percent vote, it would have imposed a 10-year moratorium on use of genetically engineered products in Sonoma County.

Genetically altered crops and seeds are currently banned in Mendocino, Marin, Trinity, Humboldt and Santa Cruz counties.

It’s unclear if the current initiative drive will boost local participation in Saturday’s fourth annual global protest of the Monsanto Corporation, the international seed giant whose products include many that are genetically doctored for resistance to insects and to herbicides, allowing farmers to spray more readily for nuisance weeds without killing crops.

Monsanto also produces Roundup, a widely utilized weed killer that contains a highly controversial chemical agent called glyphosate, which has been linked to cancer by some scientific entities, though findings on the substance are somewhat contradictory. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, concluded last year that glyphosate was probably carcinogenic to humans.

Protest organizers expect this year’s March on Monsanto to be observed in more than 38 countries and 428 cities worldwide, including Sebastopol.

Hudson and Domnitz are among those playing a role in the local event, which begins at 2 p.m. at the downtown Sebastopol Plaza. The march will conclude with a rally, including presentations by speakers, as well as booths and a plant sale. In the event of heavy rain, the rally will be held indoors at a venue yet to be determined. Those interested in attending should call (707) 877-6650 in the morning to learn the location.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story said heavy rain would push the rally indoors, to Analy High School. Organizers have since learned Analy is not available.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.