US Consumers Realise Rejecting GM Food Best Option.

[Guest guest]

GE food and the new administration: Change or more of the same?

(http://thetruthaboutgmos.com/blog/?p=48)

 

[This report is very sickening to say the least. - Jagannath]

 

Support of the biotech industry has never been about party politics. It is

simply and purely an issue of money and power. Government support for biotech

crops stems from two important facts: they are U.S.-developed and biotech

corporations have made significant financial contributions to politicians and

political parties. Through economic and political pressure, biotech-giant

Monsanto has influenced past administrations – republicans and democrats –

and now there is a chance we may have politics-as-usual regarding genetically

engineered food with the Obama administration.

 

In September, Science Debate 2008, a non-partisan political education group,

posed science questions to the presidential candidates. When asked about the

concerns of the effects of genetic modification both in humans and agriculture,

Obama´s (partial) response was:

 

" Advances in the genetic engineering of plants have provided enormous benefits

to American farmers. I believe that we can continue to modify plants safely with

new genetic methods… "

 

Obama´s statements on GE food tell us that he is either uninformed about GE

food or is choosing to propagate the biotech façade due to industry influence.

 

It is public knowledge that the genetic engineering of plants has NOT provided

enormous benefits to American farmers. Seeds of Doubt, a 2002 report from the

UK´s Soil Association, was the first detailed look at what has happened in

North America since the commercial growing of GE crops started in 1996. The

study debunked the myth that GE technology represents progress, showing that

farmers of GE crops continue to report lower yields, have a greater reliance on

herbicide use, have problems with herbicide resistant weeds, have lost export

trade and have faced lower market prices resulting in a reduction in profits –

which has increased the need for government (taxpayer) subsidies.

 

American taxpayers support the multi-billion dollar biotech industry by

massively funding GE crop and dairy subsidies, state initiatives, tax breaks,

foreign aid and other biotech support doled out by the U.S. government. United

States farm subsidies have grown dramatically since the growth of GE crops and

the resulting lost exports.

 

Obama contends " we can continue to modify plants safely, " yet no long-term

studies to assess safety exist. The FDA does not require specific safety studies

or test methods to be conducted on GE crops; biotech company consultations with

the agency are voluntary.

 

Only a handful of independent safety tests have ever been conducted and none

prove safety of GE food for human consumption. Nearly every independent animal

feeding safety study on GE foods shows adverse or unexplained effects—such as

problems with their growth, organ development, damaged immune systems, damaged

organs, bleeding stomachs, and increased death rates.

 

What does he mean " continue " to modify plants safely, when no proof exists that

GE crops have been modified " safely " as it is?

 

It is important to know that four out of five of Obama´s science advisors come

from the life sciences industry. One advisor, Gilbert Omenn, is currently a

director of the biotech firm Amgen, and another advisor, Sharon Long, served on

Monsanto´s board for 5 1/2 years until last fall. Upon her retirement, she

commented:

 

" I am truly proud of Monsanto´s achievements and growth during my service as a

director and look forward to the company´s continued success. "

 

She and the life sciences industry have the ear of yet another administration.

 

Obama is in the process of formulating policy, assembling his transition team,

and considering nominees for Secretary of Agriculture, among other important

positions. The Secretary of Agriculture is responsible for directing the U.S.

Department of Agriculture and its $90 billion annual budget, including the

National Organic Program, food stamp and nutrition programs, and agriculture

subsidies.

 

Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack has emerged as the frontrunner for the post of

Agriculture Secretary in the Obama cabinet. Vilsack specializes in agribusiness

as an attorney and was awarded " Governor of the Year " by the Biotechnology

Industry Organization in 2001.

 

Elevating Vilsack is a sign that the Obama administration could continue

treating agricultural policy as if the relevant constituency is food producers

rather than food consumers.

 

Additionally, Obama just appointed Michael Taylor to his transition team for

agriculture and energy. In Shedding Light on Genetically Engineered Food, I

mentioned Michael Taylor´s influence on behalf of Monsanto in Chapter 3 under

the section " Revolving Door " :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

window.google_render_ad();

 

 

Michael Taylor went to work for the FDA during the Carter administration, and at

one point, was staff lawyer and executive assistant to the commissioner of the

FDA. Taylor left the FDA to be a partner in the law firm of King & Spaulding and

became the firm´s food and drug law (FDA) specialist, where he supervised a

nine-lawyer group whose clients included Monsanto. During his ten years at King

& Spaulding, Taylor represented Monsanto´s efforts to gain FDA approval for

Posilac (rBGH). Taylor wrote articles opposing the Delaney Clause, a 1958

federal law prohibiting the introduction of known carcinogens into processed

foods, which had been opposed by Monsanto and other chemical and pesticide

companies.

 

In 1991, he left the law firm to rejoin the FDA under George Bush, Sr., this

time as deputy commissioner for policy when the agency was reviewing rBGH.. It

was in 1994 during the Clinton administration that Monsanto´s GE hormone, one

of the most controversial drug applications in the history of the FDA, was

approved under Taylor ´s influence.

 

Taylor was also instrumental in writing the FDA´s rBGH labeling guidelines that

would prohibit dairy corporations from making any distinction between products

produced with or without rBGH. Just days after Taylor´s policy was implemented,

King & Spaulding—still representing Monsanto—filed a suit against two dairy

farms that had labeled their milk rBGH-free.

 

In response, the Foundation for Economic Trends petitioned the FDA and the

Department of Health and Human Services to investigate Taylor´s conflict of

interest. Three members of Congress then asked the General Accounting Office to

investigate. Within days of the complaint, Taylor left the FDA to work for the

USDA as the administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service, a position

he held from 1994 to 1996.

 

After representing Monsanto at King & Spaulding and having worked at the FDA and

the USDA, Taylor went directly to Monsanto to work as vice president of public

policy in the late 1990s.

 

And once again he is in a position of influence as member of the Obama

transition team.

 

Of course we all hope for positive change with a new administration. But the

point here is not to wait for a labeling law or expect Washington to change the

regulatory system before you take action. The way for change to happen with GE

food is if we drive this on a consumer level and stop eating it. Call food

manufacturers and tell them you don´t want GE food or ingredients. If food

processors stop accepting GE crops because of consumer rejection, the

agriculture biotech industry won´t have a market.

 

If you would like to voice your opinion about GE food to President-Elect Obama

and his transition team, you can comment at:

http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision.

 

 

 

If they want money let them ask us directly. We are ready to give it to them.Why

do they need to poke our children with these vaccines? Why did not they become

robbers or politicians? They can earn money that way too. Why do they have to

malign such a noble profession? - A non pediatrician doctor, mother of an

autistic child, at Hyderabad, India.

 

 

 

Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on

http://help./l/in//mail/mail/tools/tools-08.html/