Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Obama signs 'Monsanto Protection Act' written by Monsanto-sponsored senator



Obama signs 'Monsanto Protection Act' written by Monsanto-sponsored senator
Published time: March 28, 2013 19:04
Edited time: March 30, 2013 04:11                                                      
United States President Barack Obama has signed a bill into law that was written in part by the very billion-dollar corporation that will benefit directly from the legislation.

On Tuesday, Pres. Obama inked his name to H.R. 933, a continuing resolution spending bill approved in Congress days earlier. Buried 78 pages within the bill exists a provision that grossly protects biotech corporations such as the Missouri-based Monsanto Company from litigation.

With the president’s signature, agriculture giants that deal with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds are given the go-ahead to continue to plant and sell man-made crops, even as questions remain largely unanswered about the health risks these types of products pose to consumers.

In light of approval from the House and Senate, more than 250,000 people signed a petition asking the president to veto the spending bill over the biotech rider tacked on, an item that has since been widely referred to as the “Monsanto Protection Act.”

“But Obama ignored [the petition],” IB Times’ Connor Sheets writes, “instead choosing to sign a bill that effectively bars federal courts from being able to halt the sale or planting of GMO or GE crops and seeds, no matter what health consequences from the consumption of these products may come to light in the future.”

James Brumley, a reporter for Investor Place, explains a little more thoroughly just how dangerous the rider is now that biotech companies are allowed to bypass judicial scrutiny. Up until it was signed, he writes, “the USDA [US Department of Agriculture] oversaw and approved (or denied) the testing of genetically modified seeds, while the federal courts retained the authority to halt the testing or sale of these plants if it felt that public health was being jeopardized. With HR 933 now a law, however, the court system no longer has the right to step in and protect the consumer.”

If the president’s signature isn’t all that surprising, though, consider the genesis of the bill itself. According to an article published Monday in the New York Daily News, US Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) “worked with Monsanto to craft the language in the bill.”
Sen. Blunt defended his bill to the News, shrugging off suggestions that it set a startling precedent that will affect all US agriculture by firing back, “What it says is if you plant a crop that is legal to plant when you plant it, you get to harvest it. But it is only a one-year protection in that bill.”

One year could be all it takes to cause catastrophic damage to the environment by allowing laboratory-produced organisms to be planted into the earth without oversight. Under the Monsanto Protection Act, health concerns that arise in the immediate future involving the planting of GMO crops won’t be able to be heard by a judge. Blunt, a junior senator that has held elected office since the late ‘90s, has good reason to whitewash the very bill he helped craft. The Center for Responsive Politics notes that Sen. Blunt received $64,250 from Monsanto to go towards his campaign committee between 2008 and 2012. The Money Monocle website adds that Blunt has been the largest Republican Party recipient of Monsanto funding as of late.

On the lawmaker’s official website, a statement explains a little more as to why he favored HR 933 and the rider within it.

“As the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, Senator Blunt played a vital role in writing the fiscal year 2013 Agriculture Appropriations bill. This legislation maintained vital support for research and extension at land grant universities, capacity building grants for non-land grant colleges of agriculture, and competitive funding under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). The bill also included funding for conservation activities, housing and business loan programs for rural communities, domestic and international nutrition programs.”

Nowhere does the senator’s site mention the Monsanto Protection Act by name, although it claims Blunt “supports continued investments in agricultural research and engineering.”

“Did Blunt not realize that Monsanto would stand to gain significantly if section 735 survived and HR 933 was signed into law?” asks Brumley. “Not likely,”

“There’s no way of getting around the fact this is an abusive conflict of interest,” he says.

Clearly isn’t Brumley the only one that feels that way either: Blunt’s Wikipedia page was vandalized this week to read in the first paragraph, “His Senate seat was previously held by Republican Kit Bond, until Bond's retirement, and will be sold by Blunt to Monsanto Corporation upon his retirement.”

Christopher S. Bond (Kit)
Christopher S. Bond (Kit) was the Missouri state government governor, and the president of the Alfalfa Club.

Note: Jeb Bush is a member of the Alfalfa Club, and an advisory committee member for the Hispanic Leadership Network.
Hispanic Leadership Network in an offshoot for the American Action Network.
Frederic V. Malek is the founder & board member for the American Action Network, a member of the Alfalfa Club, and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Madeleine K. Albright is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.
Roy Blunt is a trustee at the Truman Scholarship Foundation, a U.S. Senate senator, and a member of the MO congressional delegation.
Daniel R. Glickman is a director, Congressional Program for the Aspen Institute (think tank), and was the secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Henry A. Kissinger was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), a member of the Bohemian Club, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
George H.W. Bush is a member of the Bohemian Club, and a member of the Alfalfa Club.
James S. Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Lester Crown was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
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 the Monsanto Company, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
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.
Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Monsanto Company, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
J. David Carlin is a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, and was the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Daniel R. Glickman was a senior adviser for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Richard C. Blum is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and married to Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Dianne Feinstein is a U.S. Senate senator, and a member of the Alfalfa Club.
Christopher S. Bond (Kit) was the president of the Alfalfa Club, and the Missouri state government governor.
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).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (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)
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).
Michael R. Taylor is the deputy commissioner for foods for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and was the VP for public policy at the Monsanto Company.
Sidley Austin LLP was the lobby firm for the Monsanto Company, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP, and is the president for the Barack Obama administration.
Newton N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
R. Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Edward M. Liddy is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was the CFO for G.D. Searle & Co.
G.D. Searle & Co. was acquired by the Monsanto Company.













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