APHIS Factsheet

Biotechnology July 2012

Questions 

and Answers: 

Determination of 

Nonregulated Status 

for Roundup Ready 

(RR) Sugar Beets

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

(APHIS) has made available two decisionmaking 

documents related to the regulation of a variety of 

sugar beets that has been genetically engineered to 

be resistant to the herbicide commercially known as 

Roundup. These are commonly known as RR sugar 

beets. 

 The first is the agency’s regulatory determination 

of nonregulated status for RR sugar beets. This 

determination, based on a thorough plant pest risk 

assessment prepared by APHIS, finds RR sugar 

beets are not likely to pose a plant pest risk to 

agricultural crops or other plants or plant products. 

Therefore, APHIS is approving the petition to 

deregulate RR sugar beets.

 The second document is the agency’s Record 

of Decision, which selects the second alternative 

evaluated as part of its final Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) prepared to examine the 

potential environmental impacts resulting from a 

determination on the petition to grant nonregulated 

status for RR sugar beets. Based on its final plant 

pest risk assessment, the analysis in the final EIS, 

and public comments on both the draft and final 

EIS, APHIS is selecting Alternative 2 in the final 

EIS— determination of nonregulated status for RR 

sugar beets. These documents are available online 

at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/news.

shtml. 

 APHIS’ determination of nonregulated status for 

RR sugar beets and its Record of Decision for the 

final EIS will become effective upon publication of 

their Notice of Availability in the Federal Register.

Q: How did APHIS make the determination of 

nonregulated status for Roundup Ready® Sugar 

Beet (RR sugar beet)?

A: APHIS made a determination of nonregulated 

status after conducting an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) and plant pest risk assessment 

(PPRA), and carefully considering approximately 

25,000 public comments. APHIS published a 

draft EIS and PPRA on October 11, 2011, and 

sought public comment for 60 days, holding three 

public meetings across the U.S. In June 2012, 

APHIS published the final EIS and final PPRA for 

RR sugar beets. Through this process and the 

Agency’s analyses, APHIS concluded that, from a 

plant pest standpoint, RR sugar beets are as safe 

as traditionally bred sugar beets. After making the 

final EIS and PPRA available for 30 days, APHIS 

announced its record of decision for the EIS and 

determination of nonregulated status for RR sugar 

beet.

Q: What does this decision mean to farmers?

A: With this decision, farmers and distributors can 

freely move and plant RR sugar beet without further 

regulatory oversight from APHIS.  In February 2011, 

APHIS announced its determination to partially 

deregulate RR sugar beet on an interim basis with 

the requirement that root crop growers enter into 

a compliance agreement that outlines mandatory 

requirements for how the root crop could be grown 

and that the seed crop had to be grown under 

regulatory permits. This regulatory oversight is 

no longer required now that APHIS has made the 

determination of nonregulated status for RR sugar 

beet.

Q. What is APHIS’ assessment prepared under 

the Plant Protection Act? 

A. Under the Plant Protection Act, the law that 

gives USDA authority to protect plant health in 

the United States, as well as APHIS’ regulations, 

when responding to a petition for a determination 

of nonregulated status, the Agency is specifically 

required to evaluate if the RR sugar beet variety is 

a plant pest to agricultural crops or other plants or 

plant products. The Act defines a plant pest as living 

organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, or insects that 

can cause harm to agricultural crops or other plants 

or plant products. In accordance with this Act, APHIS 

evaluated potential plant pest risk associated with RR 

sugar beet in its PPRA. 

Q. What does APHIS’ final plant pest risk 

assessment for RR sugar beet conclude? 

A. APHIS’ final PPRA finds that RR sugar beets 

are not likely to pose a plant pest risk to agricultural 
crops or other plant or plant products in the United 

States. As a result of this finding, APHIS made a 

determination of nonregualted status for RR sugar 

beet.

Q. What are APHIS’ analyses prepared under 

NEPA? 

A. While APHIS’ plant pest risk assessment is 

specifically focused on the plant pest risk associated 

with RR sugar beet, the Agency’s final EIS 

comprehensively evaluates the potential environmental 

impacts of three alternatives for the Agency’s decision 

on whether or not to approve nonregulated status 

for RR sugar beets. The three alternatives APHIS 

evaluated in the final EIS were to maintain the 

regulated status of RR sugar beet; to determine that 

nonregulated status was appropriate for RR sugar 

beet; or to continue regulation of RR sugar beet with 

regulatory conditions in place as required by the 

interim partial deregulation. 

Q. What other issues did APHIS’ final EIS for GE 

sugar beet evaluate? 

A. In the final EIS, APHIS evaluated a host of 

environmental concerns and issues that have been 

raised regarding the production of RR sugar beet. 

These include gene flow between RR sugar beet and 

non-GE sugar beet, table beet, Swiss chard, and wild 

beet varieties. APHIS also analyzed the implications 

for herbicide use and tillage, and impacts on weed 

development and on non-target organisms, such 

as amphibians. APHIS likewise analyzed RR sugar 

beets’ effect, if any, on federally listed threatened and 

endangered species and their designated critical 

habitat. The Agency also analyzed the potential 

environmental impacts of its decision on public health 

and worker safety. 

Q. What does the final EIS for RR sugar beet do? 

A. The final EIS is helpful in informing APHIS 

regarding any potential environmental impacts before 

the Agency makes its final regulatory determination 

under the Plant Protection Act. However, in regards to 

any potential environmental impacts evaluated in the 

final EIS, NEPA does not provide APHIS any additional 

regulatory authority to address those impacts beyond 

what the Plant Protection Act provides. 

Q. Why did APHIS select alternative 2 as its 

preferred alternative in the final EIS?

A. In the final EIS, APHIS selected alternative 2, 

determination of nonregulated status for RR sugar 

beet, as the Agency’s preferred alternative because 

it is consistent with the Agency’s determination in the 

final PPRA that RR sugar beets do not pose a plant 

pest risk. 

Q. What does APHIS’ Record of Decision (ROD) 

do?

A. In its ROD, APHIS is announcing the agency’s 

environmental decision on the petition for nonregulated 

status for RR sugar beets in light of the environmental 

analyses in the final EIS. The ROD selected the 

second alternative analyzed in the final EIS.

Q. Why did APHIS prepare a final EIS for RR sugar 

beet?

A. APHIS began work on its EIS for RR sugar 

beet in response to a U.S. District Court decision 

in 2009 which ordered APHIS to complete an EIS 

before making a determination on the petition for 

nonregulated status for RR sugar beet. 

 Specifically, in March 2005, APHIS made a 

determination that the RR sugar beet variety did not 

pose a plant pest risk and thus should no longer be a 

regulated article under agency regulations governing 

the introduction of GE organisms. 

 On January 23, 2008, the Center for Food 

Safety, the Sierra Club, and two organic seed groups 

filed a lawsuit challenging APHIS’ determination of 

nonregulated status for RR sugar beet. On 

September 21, 2009, a U.S. District Court ruled that 

the Environmental Assessment that APHIS prepared 

in connection with its regulatory determination failed to 

consider certain environmental and economic impacts 

resulting from nonregulated RR sugar beet as required 

by NEPA. The court ruled that APHIS was required to 

prepare an EIS before issuing its final determination 

on whether RR sugar beet should have nonregulated 

status. 

Q. Where can I find APHIS’ analyses and 

decisionmaking documents?

A. APHIS’ analyses, final PPRA, final EIS, ROD, 

and its determination of nonregulated status can be 

viewed at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/

news.shtml.

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United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture