USDA WATCH

TAKE ACTION: Stop Siddiqui!

Islam Siddiqui, Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

On September 22, 2009, Islam Siddiqui, currently the VP of Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America (a major front group for GMO and chemical agriculture), was nominated for the post of Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative's office. CropLife's regional partner, the Mid America CropLife Association, was the group that infamously chided the First Lady for refusing to use pesticides on the White House garden. Siddiqui gave the maximum personal contribution to Obama's campaign and held a major fundraiser for Obama at his McLean, Virginia home early last year. Congress should not confirm Islam Siddiqui as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He will use the post to continue the lobbying he has done for CropLife (a front group for chemical agriculture), promoting chemical-intensive, genetically modified products that undermine local food security in developing countries.

TAKE ACTION: Stop Siddiqui!

WHICH SIDE IS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ON?

Organic agriculture can feed the world, turn back climate change and make food production more resilient to droughts and floods. Organic agriculture can do it with biodiversity instead of biotech, greenhouse gas sequestration instead of emissions, natural pest management instead of toxic pesticides, humus-rich compost instead of fossil fuel fertilizers or sewage sludge, more family farmers and better conditions for farm workers.

The question of which agriculture model will dominate food production is a question we only have one opportunity to answer. Once a seed or animal variety is extinct or contaminated with foreign genes, we will never get it back. In an age when a billion people are stuffed while a billion people are starved, most people on the planet suffer from either poor nutrition, exposure to toxic ingredients, diet-related diseases, or all three. Agriculture is a life and death issue for all of us.

So, which side is the Obama Administration on? Well, who's in the Obama Administration?

Tom Vilsack, USDA Secretary

Organic Consumers Association network members sent 100,000 emails to Obama last fall opposing Tom Vilsack's appointment as USDA Secretary, because the former Iowa Governor was a leading advocate for Monsanto, genetic engineering, and factory farming.

 

Michael Taylor, Senior Adviser to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner on Food Safety

We generated nearly 40,000 letters opposing former Monsanto lobbyist Michael Taylor's appointment as a senior adviser to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner on food safety. Michael Taylor should not be a senior FDA food safety adviser. The Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto Corp. from 1998 until 2001, Taylor exemplifies the revolving door between the food industry and the government agencies that regulate it.

Dennis Wolff, the Next Food Safety and Inspection Service Chief?

So far, we've been able to keep former Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff (notorious for his support of Monsanto's controversial gene-altered Bovine Growth Hormone) out of the Administration, but he has been rumored to be in the running for Food Safety and Inspection Service chief. Dennis Wolff would be a poor choice to direct the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Wolff has no previous food safety experience and is best known for siding with Monsanto in support of its controversial gene-altered Bovine Growth Hormone.

Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest would be a much better choice.

Now, President Obama has nominated two high-profile biotech advocates, closely connected to Monsanto and corporate agribusiness, to key USDA and trade positions.

Roger Beachy, Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture

On October 5, 2009, Roger Beachy, long-time president of the Danforth Plant Science Center (Monsanto's nonprofit arm), became the chief of the USDA's newly created National Institute of Food and Agriculture (a nomination that doesn't require congressional approval). Roger Beachy should not be steering the direction of US agricultural research. Beachy is a long time Monsanto collaborator who heads an institute which was established by Monsanto and academic partners with a $70-million pledge from the corporation. It's effectively a Monsanto front.

Click here to send a message to President Obama, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (oversees FDA) and the Congress, letting them know that you oppose the Obama Administration's biotech boosters.

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