{"id":49079,"date":"2016-01-20T16:58:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T16:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/?p=49079"},"modified":"2016-01-20T16:58:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T16:58:00","slug":"our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Our GMO Rules Need Fixing, Mr. President"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama took the long view, focusing on the future and naming several critical arenas for change. Over dinner afterwards, my family shared what we each liked (or didn\u2019t like) about the address. I certainly agreed with the President\u2019s points about the need to \u201creduce the influence of money in politics\u201d and ensure that \u201cthe system\u2019s not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and biggest corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n

But given this, I was all the more disappointed to hear no mention of plans to rein in the power and influence of corporate agribusinesses like Monsanto and spearhead the critical work of fixing our broken food system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s family farmers and farmworkers are struggling. Our soil is exhausted, our pollinators dying. Children in rural communities are getting sick from pesticides drifting from fields, contaminating our water and showing up in our food. Like many, I find myself wondering why, in the 21st century \u2014 with all the knowledge<\/a> we have \u2014 we’re still growing food with cancer-causing<\/a>, brain-harming<\/a> pesticides.<\/em><\/p>\n

While the imperative to fundamentally transform our food and farming system did not make it into his State of the Union address, President Obama did start asking a few questions about GMOs last year. I hope he’s ready to hear some honest answers.<\/p>\n

What the White House (says it) wants to know<\/strong><\/p>\n

Five months ago, the White House issued<\/a> a memorandum to the heads of USDA, EPA and FDA, instructing the three agencies to engage in a public process to revise our antiquated, 30-year-old guidelines for regulating genetically engineered (GE) products. The memo noted that the 1986 \u201cCoordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology\u201d was in need of an update, not having been reviewed since 1992.<\/p>\n

An honest, open public conversation about how to regulate GMOs \u2014 and the hazardous pesticides that go with them<\/a> \u2014 is desperately needed and decades overdue. So I\u2019m glad the White House is finally asking questions<\/a>, and we welcome this opportunity to respond.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m also worried. I suspect that neither the White House nor the three agencies in charge of safeguarding our food and farming system really want to know what we have to say.<\/p>\n

For one thing, the White House memo stated that its primary objectives are “to ensure public confidence<\/em> in the regulatory system and to prevent unnecessary barriers<\/em> to future innovation and competitiveness…” (emphases added).<\/p>\n

What this tells me off the bat is that the White House has its priorities backwards. The primary objective should be to establish a coherent high-functioning regulatory system that protects the public interest: the health of our children, families and communities; the livelihoods of farmers and farmworkers; the integrity of our increasingly contaminated ecosystems. Public trust and confidence would then readily follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not working\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But since you asked, Mr. President, our frank assessment is that the so-called \u201cCoordinated Framework\u201d for biotech regulations is not working. Put simply, USDA, EPA and FDA have failed to protect the public from harm.<\/p>\n

Aided by USDA\u2019s consistent refusal to regulate herbicide-resistant GE seeds, the unchecked expansion of GE crops has driven<\/a> an increase of hundreds of millions of additional pounds of herbicides. Most of the increase comes in the form of Monsanto’s RoundUp, with an active ingredient (glyphosate) now classified as a probable carcinogen<\/a> by the World Health Organization. This chemical is now ubiquitous in the air and water of our rural communities.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, over 60 million acres of farmland have become infested with RoundUp-resistant \u201csuperweeds<\/a>,\u201d causing frustrated farmers to resort to even more hazardous cocktails of chemicals, a vulnerability that pesticide companies are only too eager to exploit.<\/p>\n

USDA\u2019s rubber-stamping<\/a> of Dow\u2019s 2,4-D resistant crops last year \u2014 along with EPA\u2019s swift approval of Dow\u2019s \u201cEnlist Duo\u201d herbicide (containing both glyphosate and 2,4-D, a drift-prone herbicide linked to cancer, birth defects and neurological harm) \u2014 is a case in point (EPA\u2019s recent reversal<\/a> notwithstanding).<\/p>\n

Trapped on an ever-accelerating pesticide treadmill and often unable<\/a> to access non-GMO seed when they want it, U.S. farmers are finding precious little help<\/a> from USDA in transitioning to safer, healthier agroecological farming.<\/p>\n

For its part, EPA relies<\/a> mostly on studies from the pesticide industry, ignores key epidemiological research, declines to investigate possible synergistic effects (when two or more active ingredients are combined in a product such as Enlist Duo), and discounts the cumulative impacts of real-life exposures, including the repeated applications that occur in herbicide-resistant GE systems.<\/p>\n

As for food regulation, what many people don’t realize is that FDA neither conducts safety testing of GE foods nor requires industry to do so, justifying this negligence by accepting product manufacturers\u2019 un-scientific determination that they are \u201cgenerally recognized as safe<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In sum<\/em>: Our regulatory system is a great success when it comes to granting industry wishes, but an utter failure in terms of protecting the health, livelihoods and well-being of the people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama took the long view, focusing on the future and naming several critical arenas for change. Over dinner afterwards, my family shared what we each liked (or didn\u2019t like) about the address. I certainly agreed with the President\u2019s points about the need to \u201creduce the influence of money in politics\u201d and ensure that \u201cthe system\u2019s not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and biggest corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n

But given this, I was all the more disappointed to hear no mention of plans to rein in the power and influence of corporate agribusinesses like Monsanto and spearhead the critical work of fixing our broken food system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1000,1031],"tags":[3,8,9],"organicbytes":[],"countries":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOur GMO Rules Need Fixing, Mr. President - Organic Consumers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our GMO Rules Need Fixing, Mr. President - Organic Consumers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his final State of the Union address, President Obama took the long view, focusing on the future and naming several critical arenas for change. Over dinner afterwards, my family shared what we each liked (or didn\u2019t like) about the address. I certainly agreed with the President\u2019s points about the need to \u201creduce the influence of money in politics\u201d and ensure that \u201cthe system\u2019s not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and biggest corporations.\u201d But given this, I was all the more disappointed to hear no mention of plans to rein in the power and influence of corporate agribusinesses like Monsanto and spearhead the critical work of fixing our broken food system.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Organic Consumers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/organicconsumers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-20T16:58:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barack_obama_official_photo_portrait_111th_congress.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OCA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@organicconsumer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@organicconsumer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OCA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"OCA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/person\/17936886bc35620784b0838870381700\"},\"headline\":\"Our GMO Rules Need Fixing, Mr. President\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-20T16:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-20T16:58:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/\"},\"wordCount\":824,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barack_obama_official_photo_portrait_111th_congress.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Environment & Climate\",\"Health Issues\",\"Politics & Globalization\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Millions Against Monsanto\",\"X News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/our-gmo-rules-need-fixing-mr-president\/\",\"name\":\"Our GMO Rules Need Fixing, Mr. President - 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