Court Backs Injunction |on Engineered Alfalfa

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A pesticide company should not have planted alfalfa that's been genetically engineered to be resistant to its weed killer before an environmental study was completed, the 9th Circuit ruled.

Monsanto developed the plant so farmers could use its Roundup herbicide to kill weeds without harming the alfalfa.

Geerston Seed Farms and Trask Family Seeds sued to stop the planting, asserting that cross-pollination could wipe out traditional alfalfa plants.

Schroeder ruled that the injunction was not overbroad.

"The district court applied the traditional balancing test, and not a categorical rule, in fashioning the injunction here," Judge Schroeder ruled.

The injunction will remain in place until an environmental impact statement is prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

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