| With the recent deregulations of GE alfalfa and GE sugar beets, I've decided it's time to figure out what the hell happened. What was going on internally - at the USDA and in the White House - that influenced these two decisions. In the case of alfalfa, we had what seemed like a 180 by Vilsack, as he first hinted that he might only partially deregulate GE alfalfa, and then fully deregulated it. And there's some reason to believe that the orders to do so came from the White House. For GE sugar beets, I'm interested in why the USDA (or White House) decided to override a court order.
As I go through the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) process, I decided to post what I learn about it on this blog. Part of what I'm learning is that some useful information is already public, so we should certainly review that in addition to asking for more. |
| If you want to file a FOIA, the good news is that there's plenty of advice online. I started with the Society of Environmental Journalists' FOIA Overview. From here, I found their list of Key Internet Resources, including a lovely fill in the blank FOIA letter generator and A Citizen's Guide to Using the Freedom of Information Act. I also recommend the SEJ's FOIA Fundamentals page as something to read through before getting started.
As it turns out, you must direct your FOIA to a specific government agency. In my case, there are several agencies I'm interested in. Regulation of biotech (for plants, at least) is handled by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Might as well start there. Of course, I'm most interested in the higher level decisions that took place... I want to know what the Secretary and the President (or his staff) did. So I guess that means filing more than one FOIA.
From the APHIS website, you can click over to their FOIA page and by going there, you can see the documents that were already released by previous FOIAs. These include:
Nothing about alfalfa or sugar beets. Much more helpful is the APHIS press release called "USDA Holds Stakeholder Meeting on Genetically Engineered Alfalfa and Coexistence," which was public anyway and requires no FOIA. It includes a link to a transcript of the meeting. And, of course, there's the enormous Environmental Impact Statement for GE alfalfa that I haven't even looked at yet (although I've heard it's some 1200 pages).
APHIS has a page called How to Submit a FOIA, and that provides the necessary info needed - including, most especially, the address where to send your request.
So, for now, I've used a letter generator to make a request to send to APHIS. One down, several to go. I've requested that the fee be waived and that the request be expedited. The letter looks good, but I'm going to run it past a lawyer before sending it.
UPDATE: Today I called the USDA's Office of the Secretary FOIA office and they said that by sending them a FOIA, it would include anything from APHIS. So I don't need to send one to APHIS after all. The person on the phone was very nice and I've emailed him a draft of what I'm going to ask for so he can give me advice on it. Also, I've come across another public document from APHIS on GE alfalfa that might be helpful: Questions and Answers: Roundup Ready Alfalfa Deregulation. |
