First published as an Editor's Pick on Blogcritics.org: http://blogcritics.org/gmos-and-ag-gag-laws-americas-government-protected-poison/
As I was doing some legal research I came across ag-gag laws, anti-whistleblower laws created to protect agribusiness from accountability. I could not believe what I read. These laws created by billionaires with an agenda deny the people necessary protections. Money and power seem to be the capital on which all is based, not the human element, which is berated as anti-American liberalism, as if caring about human existence is an untreatable condition.
Under ag-gag laws, no longer can reporters or investigators expose inhumane treatment of livestock, unhealthy working conditions on farms, or disease-infested situations. Taking pictures and videos behind the backs of the farmer are now punishable by law and deemed a felony. I find it incredible that this is what America has succumbed to.
A great example of the possible dangers of ag-gag is Smithfield Ham Corp. Smithfield sold their entre company to China at about the same time 11,000 dead pigs were found in the Shanghai River. If those dead animals were shipped to the new, China-owned Smithfield Ham processing plant and butchered for sale in our grocery stores, wouldn’t you want to know? I would, but due to ag-gag laws anyone who would try to leak the information could be charged with a felony, equal to severe crimes like home invasion and murder. Under the Monsanto Protection Act, the federal courts can’t stop it. We’re screwed.
I knew Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once served as an attorney for Monsanto, but I couldn’t understand how a law, now popularly called the “Monsanto Protection Act,” could be snuck in and signed by our president. This law bans our federal government from jurisdiction on GMO seed issues, even if there was clear and eminent danger to the public. It was snuck in as a rider on HR993, the bill that was approved to halt the government shutdown.
I wondered if the Koch Brothers were connected. I started researching and I was shocked at what I found.
The Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the USDA, Roger Beachy, is the former director of the Monsanto Danforth Center.
The list grows:
Linda Fisher, one-time assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pollution Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, is now the Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for Monsanto.
Michael A. Friedman M.D., the former acting commissioner of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), is now the Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs at G.D. Searle & Company, a pharmaceutical division of Monsanto Corporation.
Marcia Hale, former assistant to the President of the United States and the Director of Environmental Affairs, is now the Director of International and Governmental Affairs, Monsanto.
Michael Kantor, former Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce and former trade representative, is now a Monsanto board member.
Josh King, a former Director of Production for White House Events, is now the Director of Global Communications in Washington D.C. for Monsanto.
Margaret Miller, former chemical lab supervisor for Monsanto, is now the Deputy Director of Human Food Safety and Consulting Services for the New Animal Drug Evaluation Office, Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA.
Michael Taylor, former advisor to the F.D.A., Bureau of Medical Devices and Bureau of Foods, then Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of the F.D.A,, and Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the F.D.A., now heads Monsanto’s Washington D.C. office.
Lidia Watrud, former microbial biotechnology researcher at Monsanto, is now with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Effects Lab, Western Ecology Division.
Jack Watson, former Chief of Staff to Jimmy Carter, is now a staff attorney with Monsanto.
As I dug further into Monsanto I learned there were American politicians who own shares in Monsanto. The eight shareholders are: Dave Camp (R-MI), Kay R Hagan (D-NC), Joe Kennedy III (D-MA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Jim Renacci (R-OH), James F Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI), and last but not least Fred Upton, (R-MI.)
Sixteen out of 22 Monsanto lobbyists in 2012 have previously worked for our government.
Monsanto has made political donations totaling $1,093,564, divided among candidates ($514,529), Leadership PACs ($60,250), parties ($48,575), 527 committees ($646,110), and outside groups ($750). These were bipartisan donations, but there was also a $23,725 donation to President Obama.
Still, with data crowding my mind and notes filling my pad, I still felt it had something to do with the Koch brothers. I stumbled upon a billion dollar lawsuit filed against DuPont by Monsanto relating to GMO soybeans. As I dug into DuPont, there was my golden egg. DuPont is a fertilizer company that is now in the GMO business. DuPont is the Kochs’ Monsanto. The case was settled out of court. They agreed to work together and basically share the genetically modified soybean.
With the new knowledge that the billionaire brothers own DuPont and Matador Cattle Company, I saw their connection to the Monsanto Protection Act and the ag-gag laws. Both DuPont and Monsanto needed laws to protect their immoral and illegal practices. Sad to say, they bought the votes they needed to pass those laws, again.
In Russia, President Putin outlawed Monsanto because its GMOs have been linked to cancer-causing agents. He urged President Obama to outlaw the insecticides produced and used by Bayer, DuPont, Dow, Monsanto, and Syngenta. These companies own almost 100% of the global market for genetically modified pesticides, plants, and seeds. Putin spoke out on the poisonous effects on the land and water supply, globally, from the neonicotinoids that poison us all and damage the entire food chain. Unlike Obama, Putin acted to protect his people.
Other countries have outlawed GMOs, but in America, we make laws protecting them. We protect free enterprise above all else. We make laws against federal involvement if our food becomes a threat to us. We even make laws that prevent us from knowing we are consuming GMOs, because labeling isn’t warranted in America. Pathetically, The GMO companies are allowed to commit assault on Americans for capital gain. Criminal, without a doubt, but hidden under the surface of free enterprize.
Our president orders pink slime, ammonium meat, for our public schoolchildren’s school lunches; food growers and livestock breeders can operate without regulation; and the Monsanto Act made it illegal for our federal courts to get involved.
Seventy percent of items in U.S. food stores contain GMOS. That’s pretty scary.
My open invitation to the politicians, to my president, to the Koch brothers, and Monsanto:
You guys are poisoning us. What does it feel like to kill and destroy our land and our people for capital gain? Do they make criminals worse than the lot of you? I doubt it. You’re cowards, afraid of labeling, of giving us a choice. You’re pathetic. The sad thing is you’re all empty, your billions aren’t satisfying enough, now you want to play God… Eat well.
Till the next time,
Pam
Under ag-gag laws, no longer can reporters or investigators expose inhumane treatment of livestock, unhealthy working conditions on farms, or disease-infested situations. Taking pictures and videos behind the backs of the farmer are now punishable by law and deemed a felony. I find it incredible that this is what America has succumbed to.
A great example of the possible dangers of ag-gag is Smithfield Ham Corp. Smithfield sold their entre company to China at about the same time 11,000 dead pigs were found in the Shanghai River. If those dead animals were shipped to the new, China-owned Smithfield Ham processing plant and butchered for sale in our grocery stores, wouldn’t you want to know? I would, but due to ag-gag laws anyone who would try to leak the information could be charged with a felony, equal to severe crimes like home invasion and murder. Under the Monsanto Protection Act, the federal courts can’t stop it. We’re screwed.
I knew Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once served as an attorney for Monsanto, but I couldn’t understand how a law, now popularly called the “Monsanto Protection Act,” could be snuck in and signed by our president. This law bans our federal government from jurisdiction on GMO seed issues, even if there was clear and eminent danger to the public. It was snuck in as a rider on HR993, the bill that was approved to halt the government shutdown.
I wondered if the Koch Brothers were connected. I started researching and I was shocked at what I found.
The Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the USDA, Roger Beachy, is the former director of the Monsanto Danforth Center.
The list grows:
Linda Fisher, one-time assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pollution Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, is now the Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for Monsanto.
Michael A. Friedman M.D., the former acting commissioner of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), is now the Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs at G.D. Searle & Company, a pharmaceutical division of Monsanto Corporation.
Marcia Hale, former assistant to the President of the United States and the Director of Environmental Affairs, is now the Director of International and Governmental Affairs, Monsanto.
Michael Kantor, former Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce and former trade representative, is now a Monsanto board member.
Josh King, a former Director of Production for White House Events, is now the Director of Global Communications in Washington D.C. for Monsanto.
Margaret Miller, former chemical lab supervisor for Monsanto, is now the Deputy Director of Human Food Safety and Consulting Services for the New Animal Drug Evaluation Office, Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA.
Michael Taylor, former advisor to the F.D.A., Bureau of Medical Devices and Bureau of Foods, then Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of the F.D.A,, and Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the F.D.A., now heads Monsanto’s Washington D.C. office.
Lidia Watrud, former microbial biotechnology researcher at Monsanto, is now with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Effects Lab, Western Ecology Division.
Jack Watson, former Chief of Staff to Jimmy Carter, is now a staff attorney with Monsanto.
As I dug further into Monsanto I learned there were American politicians who own shares in Monsanto. The eight shareholders are: Dave Camp (R-MI), Kay R Hagan (D-NC), Joe Kennedy III (D-MA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Jim Renacci (R-OH), James F Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI), and last but not least Fred Upton, (R-MI.)
Sixteen out of 22 Monsanto lobbyists in 2012 have previously worked for our government.
Monsanto has made political donations totaling $1,093,564, divided among candidates ($514,529), Leadership PACs ($60,250), parties ($48,575), 527 committees ($646,110), and outside groups ($750). These were bipartisan donations, but there was also a $23,725 donation to President Obama.
Still, with data crowding my mind and notes filling my pad, I still felt it had something to do with the Koch brothers. I stumbled upon a billion dollar lawsuit filed against DuPont by Monsanto relating to GMO soybeans. As I dug into DuPont, there was my golden egg. DuPont is a fertilizer company that is now in the GMO business. DuPont is the Kochs’ Monsanto. The case was settled out of court. They agreed to work together and basically share the genetically modified soybean.
With the new knowledge that the billionaire brothers own DuPont and Matador Cattle Company, I saw their connection to the Monsanto Protection Act and the ag-gag laws. Both DuPont and Monsanto needed laws to protect their immoral and illegal practices. Sad to say, they bought the votes they needed to pass those laws, again.
In Russia, President Putin outlawed Monsanto because its GMOs have been linked to cancer-causing agents. He urged President Obama to outlaw the insecticides produced and used by Bayer, DuPont, Dow, Monsanto, and Syngenta. These companies own almost 100% of the global market for genetically modified pesticides, plants, and seeds. Putin spoke out on the poisonous effects on the land and water supply, globally, from the neonicotinoids that poison us all and damage the entire food chain. Unlike Obama, Putin acted to protect his people.
Other countries have outlawed GMOs, but in America, we make laws protecting them. We protect free enterprise above all else. We make laws against federal involvement if our food becomes a threat to us. We even make laws that prevent us from knowing we are consuming GMOs, because labeling isn’t warranted in America. Pathetically, The GMO companies are allowed to commit assault on Americans for capital gain. Criminal, without a doubt, but hidden under the surface of free enterprize.
Our president orders pink slime, ammonium meat, for our public schoolchildren’s school lunches; food growers and livestock breeders can operate without regulation; and the Monsanto Act made it illegal for our federal courts to get involved.
Seventy percent of items in U.S. food stores contain GMOS. That’s pretty scary.
My open invitation to the politicians, to my president, to the Koch brothers, and Monsanto:
You guys are poisoning us. What does it feel like to kill and destroy our land and our people for capital gain? Do they make criminals worse than the lot of you? I doubt it. You’re cowards, afraid of labeling, of giving us a choice. You’re pathetic. The sad thing is you’re all empty, your billions aren’t satisfying enough, now you want to play God… Eat well.
Till the next time,
Pam
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