Heather Callaghan

Activist Post



Late last night, President Obama signed HR 933 into law with biotech rider Sec. 735 – dubbed the Monsanto Protection Act – still contained. Simply put, the rider hidden in the text of the Farmer Assurance Provision – and has nothing to do with Continuing Resolution spending (HR 933) – protects Monsanto from the court system should they want to halt illegally planted or hazardous genetically modified crops. The USDA already gives biotech companies like Monsanto the thumbs up, trusting Monsanto’s own safety evaluations. Now the court system cannot intervene, which could prove detrimental to farmers who are sued by Monsanto for patent infringement when their GM seeds contaminate those farmers’ fields.

The rider was passed despite efforts of phone calls, emails, and forms asking for veto made by over a quarter-million concerned Americans given very little time to do so before the “must-pass” spending bill slipped through the House and Senate. That number comes just from Food Democracy Now!’s alert alone. That does not include the many contacts made by people who read alerts from many other websites and organizations.

This left many shocked and outraged, but many others were not surprised. Even though the Obama family enjoys non-GMO organic fare, at least from the White House garden, the Administration is known for hiring former Monsanto employees like Michael Taylor to high-up food safety positions – a blatant conflict of interest. Almost half a million people asked Obama to cut FDA ties with Monsanto. Remember this clip (below) from 2007 of Obama promising to label GMOs?

Where do we go from here?

The sneaky slip of this rider and it’s quick passing has made the court system strangely helpless and some activists feeling deflated. It was a lot of last minute reading, scrambling, action – and now law, although we don’t know for how long. The spending resolution is for six months, but indefinite riders have a way of sticking around. What did we do before this storm?

We tried to reach out to friends and watched where our food dollars went. Changed the market stream, where it really shows. As difficult as it is, it’s more important than ever to refuse support for food companies that use GMO ingredients. We can continue to let Congress know that we are watching – no more selling us out, or else they should be out. No more spending money for things we don’t want, things that are shown to cause harm. We aren’t buying any of it.

Food Democracy Now! has created a petition form demanding Obama sign an executive order to label GMOs like he promised back in ’07. This may not be the best route as executive orders are abused and many us don’t want any more on the agenda. I would have to agree with the consensus that petitions often go ignored – but they still let leaders know that you’re upset, active, and paying attention.

Thank you, Food Democracy Now! for the alert campaign that helped inform so many people, people who may not have known about the hazards of GMOs before. They attended a march today in front of the White House, sending a clear message.

You can stand with folks like these everywhere on May 25th in the March Against Monsanto – add your city to the list if you’d like to organize one.

Can’t wait? Then send a message to Michael Taylor (FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods) with Occupy-Monsanto’s Eat-In on the FDA lawn, April 8th.

March Against Monsanto May 25th:

https://www.facebook.com/events/147274678766425/155451594615400

FDA Eat-In to Label GMOS April 8th:

https://www.facebook.com/events/120662614779931/

Activist Post’s previous report:

A rider (Sec. 735) that would prevent courts from halting illegally planted GM crops (sometimes courts find fault with USDA-approved GM fields) was slipped into the Senate Continuing Resolution spending bill HR 933. It blind-sided an angry populace last week, giving little time to voice complaint before it was to go through the Senate.

Last Wednesday morning, HR 933 passed with the new rider dubbed by activists as the Monsanto Protection Act therein. The rider has nothing to do with proposed government spending to keep it running for the next six months. But it is unknown whether this incongruous rider will last six months or permanently.

According to GovTrack.us, the only thing left before the bill becomes law is the President’s signature. Food Democracy Now! is asking you to join the more than 200,000 people who used their forms to contact Obama and Congress in an effort to strip the rider. This is not a petition. And those are only the people who used their site – countless other organizations alerted activists in the last two weeks.

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