Why Monsanto Always Wins

[JohnyCanuck]

Back in 2003, USDA officials were concerned about "deficiencies" in Monsanto's original petition to deregulate the GE alfalfa seeds, so they drafted a letter with about 90 questions for Monsanto. In several emails, officials working with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) asked Monsanto officials to comment and "suggest improvements" on at least three drafts of the "deficiency letter." Monsanto was happy to redraft the letter point by point.

Monsanto withdrew its original petition in February 2004 after two undocumented conference calls with APHIS personnel. One month before the final petition was submitted in April, Monsanto regulatory officer Glen Rogan sent two emails to APHIS petition reviewer Virgil Meier indicating that Monsanto was willing to help draft the USDA's EA of Roundup Ready alfalfa. APHIS conducts EA's to assess the potential environmental impacts of proposed agricultural products.

Rogan asked Meier to consult his boss and colleagues about the possibility of Monsanto assisting in the assessment because it would be "precedent setting." Meier, who was in charge of writing the EA, accepted Monsanto's help and said he would "cut and paste" information right from petition into the EA:

If you are willing to provide assistance with the EA, I would appreciate it. At this time, no one has voiced concern with this so I am assuming that there is no problem. In a related matter, because I am supposed to write the EA, I would appreciate receiving an electronic copy of the petition (Word?) so I can do cut and paste which I think will speed up the completion of the EA.

Bill Freese, a policy analyst with CFS, said this kind of cooperation between federal regulators and the biotech industry is unacceptable. "It should go without saying that an applicant should play no role in APHIS's regulatory review of an applicant's product, beyond supplying requested information," Freese wrote in a 2009 letter to the USDA. The USDA did not respond to Freese's letter or to an inquiry from Truthout.

Freese told Truthout that the approval process for controversial GE crops like Roundup Ready alfalfa is basically a "sham" designed to increase consumer confidence in the controversial GE crops. Freese has been fighting the battle against biotech for years, and he can't remember a single case when regulators failed to eventually grant approval of a GE crop.

http://www.truth-out.org/why-monsanto-always-wins67976

[BanzaiBonnie]

1. Monsanto is like a cancer in our midst

[BanzaiBonnie]

3. Oh, and a big hello to the Monsanto operatives on DU

We see you. We know who some of you are and we are watching. We are learning from you and will eventually sink your efforts at deception.

[bvar22]

7. Yep.

They are easy to ID.

[randr]

2. This is also a move to decertify organic producers of meat products

The likelihood of crossover pollination to organic crops is not addressed, in fact the buffer zones were removed to almost ensure organic growers would be affected

[truedelphi]

6. A colleague of Don Huber, Jim Martindale,

He has been observing that even when the cows are brought to a field that used to have RoundUp ready crops on it, then brought back to a piece of land that was always held pristine, the contaminants that come from their poop end up disturbing the soil flora and fauna in the same ways that a direct spray of RoundUp would.

The molds, like Fusarium, that now contaminate a host of usual grain crops, including rice, corn and wheat, are afflicting many Americans with illnesses ranging from "allergies" to a specific grain, to acid reflux, to all sorts of problems.

I was knocked out by pain all through 2009. When I eliminated wheat from my diet around Thanksgiving of that year, my life became wonderful again. Before wheat became so GM contaminated, I could always eat it.

And it was through sheer luck that my doctor's staff figured out what the problem was.

[Richard D]

4. yup

[sadbear]

5. I could have have answered that with a lot fewer words:

$$$