Roundup Ready® Sugar Beet News

On July 19, 2012, APHIS announced the availability of a record of decision and determination of nonregulated status in regards to a petition for nonregulated status for sugar beets genetically engineered (GE) to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, known commercially as Roundup. These GE sugar beets are commonly referred to as event H7-1 or Roundup Ready® (RR) sugar beets.

APHIS considered the environmental impacts of three alternatives in its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS): deny the petition seeking a determination of nonregulated status, make a determination of nonregulated status, or to extend the partial deregulation of RR sugar beets for the root crop, with mandatory conditions and restrictions, while maintaining seed production under APHIS' regulatory permitting program.

On October 11, 2011, APHIS made available a draft EIS and Plant Pest Risk Assessment (PPRA), sought public comment on the draft EIS and draft PPRA for 60 days, and held three public meetings across the U.S. APHIS received approximately 25,000 comments during the comment period, all of which the Agency took into careful consideration in reaching a preferred alternative: to make a determination of nonregulated status for RR sugar beets. The final EIS and final PPRA were not the final determination on the regulatory status of RR sugar beets. These documents were made available on June 1, 2012, for public review. APHIS waited over the requisite 30 days after publishing the final EIS to analyze any issues brought to the Agency related to this action before APHIS made a final determination and published a record of decision (ROD).