Holy megaweeds - USDA GM Deregulation

from Laura Flanders:

It's a hoary bureaucratic trick, making a controversial announcement on the Friday afternoon before a long weekend, when most people are daydreaming about what beer to buy on the way home from work, or are checking movie times online. But that's precisely what the US Department of Agriculture pulled last Friday. [...]

In its July 1 response, the USDA agreed: "[N]one of the organisms used in generating this genetically engineered (GE) glyophosphate tolerant Kentucky bluegrass...are considered to be plant pests," so Roundup Ready bluegrass "does not meet the definition of a 'regulated article' and is not subject" to the Plant Protection Act. In other words, go forth and multiply.

Definitely worth reading the whole thing - explains how the US regulations against GM crops were based on a 1950s era fiction bolstered by a slightly (but only slightly) more binding recent law that has now been blown thru ...