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Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms | 561 U.S. 139 (2010)
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Don’t wait for the flood to build a dam. Let’s see how this folksy wisdom relates to administrative law and constitutional standing in Monsanto Company versus Geertson Seed Farms.
Monsanto developed a genetically engineered strain of alfalfa that was resistant to certain herbicides. The United States Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, had the authority to regulate genetically engineered plants if they were pests, and to deregulate them if they weren’t. Another statute, the National Environmental Policy Act, required the agency to prepare an environmental impact statement before deregulating a plant.
Monsanto petitioned the department to deregulate its resistant alfalfa, and the department did so.
Geertson Seed Farms raised nonengineered alfalfa seed for customers who didn’t want engineered plants. Geertson was concerned about gene flow, the infection of non-engineered plants with genes from engineered ones. If Monsanto’s alfalfa were deregulated, the risk of gene flow would require Geertson and other farmers to test for engineered genes in their seed and obtain certification that such genes weren’t present. The farmers would have to contract with foreign suppliers for seed and take other measures to ensure a supply of uncontaminated alfalfa. These requirements would drive up the farmers’ expenses and make it harder for them to compete in the marketplace.
Geertson joined with another seed farm to sue the Secretary of Agriculture and other officials, alleging among other things that the government failed to prepare an appropriate environmental impact statement before deregulating Monsanto’s alfalfa.
A federal district court found that the plaintiffs were entitled to relief, and it allowed Monsanto to intervene in the remedial phase of the litigation. In that phase, the court entered a permanent injunction that, among other provisions, vacated the deregulation decision and prohibited planting the genetically engineered alfalfa until the department completed further procedures.
Monsanto appealed, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. Monsanto petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari, which the Court granted.
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