Monday, October 14, 2013

The Revolving Door: FDA and the Monsanto Company



The Revolving Door: FDA and the Monsanto Company
Feb 11, 2013
According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), its responsibilities include “[p]rotecting the public health by assuring that foods are safe, wholesome, sanitary and properly labeled.” This responsibility entails regulating a large number of companies producing this nation’s food, making appointments to the high-level positions within the agency very important.

Most high-level FDA employees have a background in either medicine or law, but one of the largest private-sector sources is the Monsanto Company. Over the past decades, at least seven high-ranking employees in the FDA have an employment history with the Monsanto Company.

Connections have led many to speculate whether any conflicts of interest exist within this revolving door between the big food companies and the department charged with regulating them.

At the forefront of this controversy is Michael R. Taylor, currently the deputy commissioner of the Office of Foods. He was also the deputy commissioner for Policy within the FDA in the mid ’90s. However, between that position and his current FDA position, Mr. Taylor was employed by Monsanto as Vice President of Public Policy.

United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Michael R. Taylor is the deputy commissioner for foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and was the VP for public policy at the Monsanto Company.

Note: Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Monsanto Company.
James F. Collins was a senior advisor for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, and is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Donald Kennedy was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Margaret A. Hamburg is the VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and the commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States in war)
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Mark B. McClellan was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory
Please note: This link for the members of the Commercial Club of Chicago can no longer be found.
R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Sidley Austin LLP was the lobby firm for Monsanto Company.
Valerie B. Jarrett is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Monsanto Company.
Michael R. Taylor was the VP for public policy at the Monsanto Company, and is the deputy commissioner for foods for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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