San Francisco, CA – November 30, 2010 – Centre for Food Safety. Genetically Engineered Sugar Beet Seed Crop Must be Removed! Finds Government and Monsanto rushed to illegally plant herbicide resistant crop. Cdn. Biotechnology Action Network Press Statement, December 1, 2010: Yesterday a US federal district judge ordered Monsanto's genetically engineered sugarbeet seedlings be uprooted. This is the first court-ordered destruction of a GE crop in the US. The decision (November 30, 2010) follows a challenge from farmer and environmental groups based on the risks of contamination. The judge noted that non-GE crops were at risk and that the US Department of Agriculture, by allowing September plantings, tried to circumvent his prior ruling that the sugarbeets were illegal, pending an environmental assessment. Below is a letter from CBAN to Canadian sugar company Lantic, and a press release from US group Center for Food Safety which represented groups in the legal challen