Home : In the Market : Sugarbeets
Am I eating GE sugarbeets?
What traits have been genetically engineered into crops?
Which foods have been genetically engineered?
What are the health, environmental, and social issues associated with genetic engineering?
How is genetic engineering regulated in the United States?
Media coverage and public opinion of genetic engineering
Printable fact sheets, helpful links, site index, and more
About the creators of the GEO-PIE Project
  
Although two varieties have been approved, GE sugarbeets are not grown commercially in the US.

Two researchers inspect a sugarbeet field in Salinas, CA.
   

Am I eating genetically engineered sugarbeets?

No. Both Novartis and Aventis (formerly AgrEvo) have developed GE herbicide-resistant varieties of sugarbeets, approved by US regulators in 1998. Neither has ever been sold to growers in the US, primarily because processors have been reluctant to accept them. After sugar extraction, the beet pulp is sold in Europe and Japan for animal feed-- two markets where acceptance of GE foods is relatively low. Public outcry against the GE sugarbeets has been particularly heated in Ireland, where anti-GE activists have repeatedly destroyed test-plots.
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