Supreme Court Backs Monsanto's Roundup

In its first-ever ruling on genetically modified crops, the Supreme Court on Monday overturned a lower court's ban on the planting of alfalfa seeds engineered to resist Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. The decision was a victory for Monsanto and others in the agricultural biotechnology industry, and it could have an impact on other cases.

A federal district judge in San Francisco ruled in 2007 that the Agriculture Department had approved the genetically engineered alfalfa for commercial planting without adequately considering the possible environment impact, as required by federal law. The judge vacated the approval of the crop and also imposed a nationwide ban on planting those seeds, decisions later upheld on appeal.

But the Supreme Court, in a 7-to-1 decision, said the lower court judge had gone too far in imposing the nationwide ban because it prevented the Agriculture Department from considering a partial approval, known as deregulation, which would have allowed some of the alfalfa to be grown subject to various conditions. But in practice it is not clear whether the decision will measurably speed up the resumption of planting of the genetically engineered alfalfa.

''The district court barred the agency from pursuing any deregulation - no matter how limited the geographic area in which planting of RRA would be allowed,'' Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the opinion, referring to Roundup Ready alfalfa.