COMMONDREAMS – My expose last week, “The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?” has ignited a long-overdue debate on how to stop Monsanto’s earth
killing, market-monopolizing, climate-destabilizing rampage. Should we
basically resign ourselves to the fact that the Biotech Bully of St.
Louis controls the dynamics of the marketplace and public policy?
Should we seek some kind of practical compromise or “coexistence”
between organics and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)? Should we
focus our efforts on crop pollution compensation and “controlled
deregulation” of genetically engineered (GE) crops, rather than
campaign for an outright ban, or mandatory labeling and safety-testing?
Should we prepare ourselves for a future farm landscape where the
U.S.’s 23 million acres of alfalfa, the nation’s fourth largest crop,
(93% of which are currently not sprayed with toxic herbicides),
including organic alfalfa, are sprayed with Roundup and/or genetically
polluted with Monsanto’s mutant genes?
Or should we stand up and say Hell No to Monsanto and the Obama
Administration? Should we stop all the talk about coexistence between
organics and GMOs; unite Millions Against Monsanto,
mobilize like never before at the grassroots; put enormous pressure on
the nation’s grocers to truthfully label the thousands of so-called
conventional or “natural” foods containing or produced with GMOs; and
then slowly but surely drive GMOs from the market?
Of course “coexistence” and “controlled deregulation” are now
irrelevant in regard to Monsanto’s herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Just
after my essay was posted last week, the White House gave marching
orders to the USDA to allow Monsanto and its Minions to plant GE
Roundup-resistance alfalfa on millions of acres, from sea to shining
sea, with no restrictions whatsoever.
“Bill Tomson and Scott Kilman of the Wall Street Journal reported
that Vilsack’s rejection of a compromise proposal – partial
deregulation, which was vehemently opposed by biotech companies and
only tepidly accepted by non-GE interests – was the result of an Obama
administration review of “burdensome” regulations.”
“Sources familiar with the negotiations at USDA, who preferred to remain anonymous, told
Food Safety News
they believe the White House asked Vilsack to drop proposed regulations
so the administration would appear more friendly to big business.” – Helena Bottemiller, Food Safety News
This post-holiday gift to Monsanto from the White House is ominous.
After the deliberate contamination of 20 million acres of U.S. alfalfa,
we can then expect Monsanto and corporate agribusiness to call for GMOs
to be allowed under the National Organic Standards. But of course let
us hope we get another temporary reprieve from the same federal judge
in California who halted the planting of GE alfalfa previously, since
the USDA has still failed to demonstrate in their current Environmental
Impact Statement that Monsanto’s alfalfa is safe for the environment.
Organic Infighting
Whole Foods and others spent a lot of time this week on their blogs and
on the Internet attacking me and the Organic Consumers Association for
supposedly mischaracterizing their position on “coexistence” with
Monsanto. In an internal company memorandum, marked “For Internal Use
Only – Do Not Distribute” January 30, 2011, Whole Foods execs basically
told their employees that the OCA is spreading lies to “uniformed
consumers” in exchange for money and publicity. Quoting directly from
the WFM company memo:
“Why is the OCA spreading misinformation? That’s a hard question for us
to answer. Perhaps because we don’t share their narrow view of what it
means to support organics, or perhaps because we do not support them
with donations. Either way, it’s a shame that an organization that
claims to “campaign for health, justice and sustainability” can’t
simply tell the truth. This just confuses consumers. Despite all their
noise, no industry leaders listen to the OCA – but uninformed consumers
might. Their fear-mongering tactics, combined with the OCA’s lack of
transparency about its funding sources, underscore the fact that it is
neither credible nor trustworthy. We can only assume their activities
are intended for further fund-raising.”
After bashing the OCA, Whole Foods then goes on to admit that WFM
stores are filled with conventional and “natural” products that are
contaminated with GMOs (they neglect to mention to their staff that
these conventional and “natural” products make up approximately 2/3 of
WFM’s total sales). Again quoting directly:
“The reality is that no grocery store in the United States, no matter
what size or type of business, can claim they are GE-free. While we
have been and will continue to be staunch supporters of non-GE foods,
we are not going to mislead our customers with an inaccurate claim (and
you should question anyone who does). Here’s why: the pervasive
planting of GE crops in the U.S. and their subsequent use in our
national food supply. 93% of soy, 86% of corn, 93% of cotton, and 93%
of canola seed planted in the U.S. in 2010 were genetically engineered.
Since these crops are commonly present in a wide variety of foods, a
GE-free store is currently not possible in the U.S. (unless the store
sells only organic foods.)”
But of course we are not asking WFM to lie to or “mislead” their
customers, to claim that all their products are GMO-free, or to sell
only organically certified foods. On the contrary, we are simply asking
them to abandon the “business as usual” industry practice of remaining
silent on the scope and degree of contamination in the billions of
dollars of non-organic food they are selling to unwitting consumers
every year. What we are asking is that WFM ethically lead the way – in
what is now a very unethical marketplace – by admitting publicly (not
just in an internal memo) that a major portion of the non-organic foods
they are selling (especially processed foods and animal products) are
contaminated with GMOs. Then we want them to take the next step and
announce that they will start labeling these GMO and/or CAFO foods
truthfully, meanwhile pressuring their non-organic food suppliers to
either reformulate products with non-GMO ingredients or start making
the transition to organic.
Let us hope that WFM eventually does the right thing. It’s unlikely WFM
will adopt Truth-in-Labeling unless they get a massive amount of
pressure from their customers, workers, and natural food competitors.
But if we can build a grassroots Movement strong enough to convince WFM
and other natural food stores to adopt Truth-in-Labeling practices,
there will be enormous pressure in the marketplace for other larger
supermarket chains to follow suit. However, if WFM and other grocery
stores refuse to voluntarily label GMO and CAFO products, OCA is
prepared to mobilize nationwide to press for mandatory labeling
ordinances at the city, county, and state level.
To sign up as a grassroots coordinator for OCA’s Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling Campaign go to: http://organicconsumers.org/oca-volunteer/
Beyond Organic Infighting
The good news this week is that WFM, Organic Valley, Stonyfield, the
National Coop Grocers Association and the Organic Trade Association
have been making strong statements about fighting against GMOs.
In a lengthy telephone conversation two days ago with Organic Valley
CEO George Sieman, George told me how angry he was at me and the OCA,
but he also said that Organic Valley was going to step up the fight
against Monsanto. I said I was glad to hear this. I told him that OCA
was going to do the same. I told him that our Millions Against Monsanto Truth-in-Labeling campaign
is already attracting thousands of volunteers all across the USA and
that we weren’t going to give up until grocery stores, natural food
stores, and coops start labeling conventional and “natural” products
containing GMOs or coming from CAFOs.
We’ll certainly see Organic Valley and the rest of the organic
industry’s pledge to fight GMOs put to the test in the near future,
when the USDA unleashes genetically engineered sugar beets for
nationwide planting. But given the need for a United Front, OCA would
like to stress that Whole Foods Market is not the enemy. Wal-Mart and
Monsanto are the enemy. Stonyfield Farm is not the enemy. The
Biotechnology Industry Association, Archer Daniels Midland, and Cargill
are the enemy. Organic Valley is not the enemy. The Grocery
Manufacturers Association, Kraft and Dean Foods are the enemy. OCA
wants the organic community to unite our forces, cut the bullshit about
“coexistence,” and move forward with an aggressive campaign to drive
GMOs and CAFOs off the market.
Monsanto’s Minions: The White House, Congress, and the Mass Media
The United States is rapidly devolving into what can only be described
as a Monsanto Nation. Despite Barack Obama (and Hillary Clinton’s)
campaign operatives in 2008 publicly stating that Obama supported
mandatory labels for GMOs, we haven’t heard a word from the White House
on this topic since Inauguration Day. Michele Obama broke ground for an
organic garden at the White House in early 2009, but after protests
from the pesticide and biotech industry, the forbidden “O” (Organic)
word was dropped from White House PR. Since day one, the Obama
Administration has mouthed biotech propaganda, claiming, with no
scientific justification whatsoever, that biotech crops can feed the
world and enable farmers to increase production in the new era of
climate change and extreme weather.
Like Obama’s campaign promises to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan;
like his promises to bring out-of-control banksters and oil companies
under control; like his promises to drastically reduce greenhouse gas
pollution and create millions of green jobs; Obama has not come though
on his 2008 campaign promise to label GMOs. His unilateral approval of
Monsanto’s genetically engineered alfalfa, overruling the federal
courts, scientists, and the organic community, offers the final proof:
don’t hold your breath for this man to do anything that might offend
Monsanto or Corporate America.
Obama’s Administration, like the Bush and Clinton Administrations
before him, has become a literal “revolving door” for Monsanto
operatives. President Obama stated on the campaign trail in 2007-2008
that agribusiness cannot be trusted with the regulatory powers of
government.
But, starting with his choice for USDA Secretary, the pro-biotech
former governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, President Obama has let Monsanto
and the biotech industry know they’ll have plenty of friends and
supporters within his administration. President Obama has taken his
team of food and farming leaders directly from the biotech companies
and their lobbying, research, and philanthropic arms:
Michael Taylor, former Monsanto Vice President, is now the FDA Deputy
Commissioner for Foods. Roger Beachy, former director of the
Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, is now the director of
the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Islam Siddiqui,
Vice President of the Monsanto and Dupont-funded pesticide-promoting
lobbying group, CropLife, is now the Agriculture Negotiator for the US
Trade Representative. Rajiv Shah former agricultural-development
director for the pro-biotech Gates Foundation (a frequent Monsanto
partner), served as Obama’s USDA Under-Secretary for Research Education
and Economics and Chief Scientist and is now head of USAID. Elena
Kagan, who, as President Obama’s Solicitor General, took Monsanto’s
side against organic farmers in the Roundup Ready alfalfa case, is now
on the Supreme Court. Ramona Romero, corporate counsel to DuPont, has
been nominated by President Obama to serve as General Counsel for the
USDA.
Of course, America’s indentured Congress is no better than the White
House when it comes to promoting sane and sustainable public policy.
According to Food and Water Watch, Monsanto and the biotech industry
have spent more than half a billion dollars ($547 million) lobbying
Congress since 1999. Big Biotech’s lobby expenditures have accelerated
since Obama’s election in 2008. In 2009 alone Monsanto and the biotech
lobby spent $71 million. Last year Monsanto’s Minions included over a
dozen lobbying firms, as well as their own in-house lobbyists.
America’s bought-and-sold mass media have likewise joined the ranks of
Monsanto’s Minions. Do a Google search on a topic like citizens’ rights
to know whether our food has been genetically engineered or not, or on
the hazards of GMOs and their companion pesticide Roundup, and you’ll
find very little in the mass media. However, do a Google search on the
supposed benefits of Monsanto’s GMOs, and you’ll find more articles in
the daily press than you would ever want to read.
Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently
introduced a bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety
testing for GMOs, don’t hold your breath for Congress to take a stand
for truth-in-labeling and consumers’ right to know what’s in their
food. In a decade of Congressional lobbying, the OCA has never seen
more than 24 out of 435 Congressional Representatives co-sponsor one of
Kucinich’s GMO labeling bills. Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court
decision in the outrageous “Citizens United” case gave big corporations
like Monsanto the right to spend unlimited amounts of money (and remain
anonymous, as they do so) to buy elections, our chances of passing
federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc.
are all but non-existent. Keep in mind that one of the decisive Supreme
Court swing votes in the “Citizen’s United’ case was cast by the
infamous Justice Clarence Thomas, former General Counsel for Monsanto.
To maneuver around Monsanto’s Minions in Washington we need to shift
our focus and go local. We’ve got to concentrate our forces where our
leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level;
pressuring retail food stores to voluntarily label their products;
while on the legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to
pass mandatory GMO (and CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, county, and
state levels. And while we’re doing this we need to join forces with
the growing national movement to get corporate money out of politics
and the media and to take away the fictitious “corporate personhood”
(i.e. the legal right of corporations to have all the rights of human
citizens, without the responsibility, obligations, and liability of
real persons) of Monsanto and the corporate elite.
Monsanto’s Minions: Frankenfarmers in the Fields
The unfortunate bottom line is that most of the North American farmers
who have planted Monsanto’s Roundup-resistant or Bt-spliced crops
(soybeans, corn, cotton, canola, sugar beets, or alfalfa) are either
brain-washed, intimidated (Monsanto has often contaminated non-GMO
farmers crops and then threatened to sue them for “intellectual
property violations” if they didn’t sign a contract to buy GMO seeds
and sign a confidentiality contract to never talk to the media), or
ethically challenged. These “commodity farmers,” who receive billions
of dollars a year in taxpayer subsidies to plant their Frankencrops and
spray their toxic chemicals and fertilizers, don’t seem to give a damn
about the human health hazards of chemical, energy, and GMO-intensive
agriculture; the cruelty, disease and filth of Factory Farms or CAFOs;
or the damage they are causing to the soil, water, and climate.
Likewise they have expressed little or no concern over the fact that
they are polluting the land and the crops of organic and non-GMO
farmers.
Unfortunately, these Frankenfarmers, Monsanto’s Minions, have now been
allowed to plant GMO crops on 150 million acres, approximately
one-third of all USA cropland. With GE alfalfa they’ll be planting
millions of acres more.
Click to continue reading about Monsanto Nation.
Article by Ronnie Cummins, National Director for the Organic Consumers Association.
© COPYRIGHT COMMONDREAMS.ORG, 2011
Image by Ashoka’s Changemakers
MEDIA ROOTS — Seeds are at the very core of the public commons as the first link in an essential food chain. Throughout the 20th century, the agricultural biotech giant Monsanto perverted intellectual property laws to corner the world’s seed supply.
MEDIA ROOTS- If there is one thing that’s been constant over the course of this planet’s evolution, it’s nature’s resilience. Even if a pesticide is designed to eradicate a weed or insect species native to a particular area, nature will eventually bounce back and become resistant to the poison. 
MEDIA ROOTS- It reads like a science fiction novel: a multinational corporation, in control of a vast majority of the world’s food supply and chief promoters of genetically altered foods, is actively infiltrating the legislative authority to not only corner the world food market, but to make growing food in one’s own back yard illegal. Even more sinister, they’ve hired one of the most equipped 
cJust how big is the GMO issue? As Americans become more conscientious of what they put in their bodies, many will be surprised to learn that we’ve been consuming genetically engineered or genetically modified foods for the past 15 years. 
Such conflicts of interest exist on the U.S. Supreme Court as well, with judge Clarence Thomas, a former Monsanto attorney, writing the high court decision allowing biotech companies to patent GM seeds. Thomas also refused to recuse himself from last year’s Monsanto v Geertson Seed case, which allowed the USDA to impose a partial deregulation of GM alfalfa last June. This January, the USDA completely deregulated GM alfalfa, even removing the requirement for buffer zones, which helped prevent the wind-generated spread of seeds. 
Or should we stand up and say Hell No to Monsanto and the Obama
Administration? Should we stop all the talk about coexistence between
organics and GMOs; unite 