"MONSANTO ON HOT SEAT" - Yippee!!!

[Enviro Girl]

I have come to admire the work of Pesticide Action Network North America | Advancing Alternatives to Pesticides Worldwide - The Pesticide Action Network of North America.

Each week, they have these news updates, panups - Monsanto is featured and called out, almost every week...It makes me grin from ear to ear! Kudos to Panna!!!

Did you guys know Monsanto is being investigated by the Department of Justice?

Wooooo Hooooo!

The bigger they are, the harder they FALL!

Here's an excerpt from a 03/19/10 PANNA update:

Monsanto on hot seat; Miracle-Gro & baseball deal; Climate change & persistent pesticides | Pesticide Action Network North America

Monsanto on hot seat

Ankeny, Iowa -- Last Friday marked the beginning of a year-long investigation into the ill-effects of corporate control over food and farming. In an unusual collaboration, the U.S. departments of justice (DOJ) and agriculture (USDA) have convened the investigations, promising what Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney termed an "unrelenting quest to find the correct balance" of power in agriculture, according to Reuters. The day was historic, if long overdue. In between two million farmers and 300 million consumers stand a handful of corporations controlling all the traffic. Friday's "workshop" focused on the seed industry in particular. Monsanto representatives were present in force, as the corporation is under scrutiny for near-monopoly control of corn and soybean seed markets, and genetically engineered seed markets more broadly.
On the ground in Iowa were Pesticide Action Network's Executive Director, Kathryn Gilje, and Senior Scientist, Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman. Gilje and Ishii-Eiteman joined hundreds of farmers, food workers, Iowans and PAN allies -- including National Family Farm Coalition, Food & Water Watch, and Food Democracy Now! -- in a town hall meeting organized on Thursday evening to bring together and give voice to farmers, advocates and allies from across the political spectrum, all of whom share an interest in breaking up monopoly control over food and agriculture. The message from farmers was clear: “Enough is enough. Corporations have no right to control our food and our lives. It's time to bust up Big Ag!”

Dr. Ishii Eiteman presented scientific evidence from the most comprehensive analysis of global agriculture (PDF) ever undertaken. The assessment found that: (1) Genetically modified seeds and industrial-scale farming will not feed our growing world; and (2) these technologies in fact have benefitted large, transnational corporations and wealthier groups, not the hungry. On seeds, in particular, PAN is concerned about a very small handful of multinational corporations controlling our shared seedstock -- the very foundation of food and agriculture. Ever since a narrow 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 1980 to allow the patenting of living organisms, and a law adopted the same year that allows publicly funded research to be patented and sold for commercial use, seeds are increasingly owned by a small handful of corporations, with Monsanto, Dupont/Pioneer and Syngenta in the lead.

[jonsi]

Thank you EG! for helping spread the word

Did you know Obama supports Monsanto?
Obama Puts Monsanto Lobbyist In Charge Of Food Safety


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just today, April 6, 2010:
Obama, Monsanto, and Hillary Clinton'... - **Genetically modified food watch** - tribe.net
We call on the Senate to reject Islam Siddiqui’s nomination and reorient trade policy to serve the interests of family farmers, farmworkers, consumers and the planet.

Sincerely,
[List of 98 organizations below.]

Siddiqui and CropLife: Statements and Positions

Islam Siddiqui was nominated by US President Barack Obama to the position of Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the office of the US Trade Representative. He is currently Vice President of Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America. CropLife is an agricultural industry trade group that lobbies on behalf of Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta and other pesticide and agricultural biotech corporations…

[continues at the Centre for Research on Globalization]
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I hope someone will explain to our President what he is endorsing.

In the white light,
~jonsi

[fracty]

Thanks EG! You always have great info for us!!!

I hope someone will explain to our President what he is endorsing.

Totally agree w you Jonsi! Even ppl I know who don't know I have M, and probably have never heard of it, are also outraged about this and other appointments. we have to keep protesting these things - to all of the media outlets, to the Internet sources, and even via calls (although they obviously don't listen to these any more.)