Posted on 03/28/2013 3:53:13 AM PDT by WCH
It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we regret to inform you that late last night President Barack Obama signed H.R. 933, which contained the Monsanto Protection Act into law. This is an outrage that will not go unanswered.
While we are still waiting to hear from the administration all the final details, we understand at this time that Section 735, the Monsanto biotech rider is intact.
President Obama knowingly signed the Monsanto Protection Act over the insistence of more than 250,000 Americans who signed an urgent letter asking that he use his executive authority to veto H.R. 933 and send it back to Congress to remove the Monsanto Protection Act from the bill. Regretfully, President Obama failed to live up to his oath to protect the American people and our constitution
(Excerpt) Read more at fooddemocracynow.org ...
LOL...I had to look up that quote to see if it was real. Sure enough—OCT 2011.
As ridiculous as this is, it’s not surprising in the slightest.
Here’s the full quote and he said it in 2007 actually:
“Here’s what I’ll do as President. I’ll immediately implement Country of Origin Labeling because Americans should know where their food comes from. And we’ll let folks know whether their food has been genetically modified because Americans should know what they’re buying.”
Agreed. GM foods are a real danger. Removing the random triggers that God built in is a dangerous things. Like commies and their central planning it is another attempt to controllife itself. Genetic manipulation is ahallmark of the the totalitarianist. Hitler, Stalin... They would love this. Studies do indicate some links with cellular decay over time. This could beva disaster but is so far into the supply chain it may be impossible to stop. We are in bizzaro world where Russia seems tobe the one doing the right things to protect and preserve their nation while we flush ourselves down the toilet.
Not exactly terrifying ...
Ahh the fun of the Internet. Here is H.R. 933.
http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20130318/BILLS-113hr933eas.pdf
Monsanto is not mentioned. Section 735 is the “Plant Protection Act” and doesn’t relate to Monsanto but vacates it, thus removing regulations for all farmers unless Obama’s EPA says otherwise in a specific case.
Yep, it does give the EPA too much power but on the other hand, it removed regulation. It did not protect Monsanto or any other entity.
It is a term made up by people on the internet to cause wailing and gnashing of teeth. Here is the actual bill.
http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20130318/BILLS-113hr933eas.pdf
Good luck finding any reference to Monsanto in there. People are freaking because it removed some government regulations and oversight in the plant protection act giving farmers and farm producers a bit more freedom without big brother breathing down their neck.
Of course it doesn’t mention particular companies.
It essentially deregulates genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to override judicial rulings and grant temporary permits for conventional farmers to plant and grow genetically modified crops while pending review. Previously, a court could suspend the planting and selling of genetically engineered crops if presented with a potential health or environmental risk or if not properly approved by the USDA. However, as legal battles persist, the “biotech rider” protects the ability of large biotech companies including Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and DuPont, to continue business as usual with the USDA’s blessing.
Monsanto has been fighting this for a while:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_Co._v._Geertson_Seed_Farms
And one of Obama’s recent ‘appointees...a former Monsanto employee.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/youre-appointing-who-plea_b_243810.html
Everyone distrusts Monsanto. Watch Obama’s approval rating plummet. This is something liberals and conservatives can come together against Obama for. Maybe the media will start kicking up some dust....and realize that if Obama would do this, then it starts to get people to thinking.
“Obama signs Monsanto Protection Act? Maybe the right wing crazies were right all along” *Starts googling and researching Benghazi, FnF, origin of birth, etc* *Finds freerepublic.com*
*discovers the truth*.
Here is the Plant Protection Act that section 735 voids.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/pdf/PlantProtAct2000.pdf
Good luck with finding GMO or genetically modified in that too.
Other than increasing the EPA’s powers, the bill itself does almost the opposite of what is claimed on these blogs. It eliminates regulations that are what hurt smaller farmers. It would do nothing for big agribusiness that always find ways around the system. At that, Monsanto’s presence grew after the Plant Protection act and more and more small farmers were pushed out, so eliminating it hopefully will mitigate that.
Yea, proponents like to call it ..Farmer Assurance Provision
Not exactly right wing. Look at the source article. Pro-Occupy, promotes global warming, links to environmental wacko groups, anti-Capitalist, etc.
Fortunately this ‘rider’ only has a 6 month shelf life at this point.
I’m saying that if Obama will do something like this, that even liberals and pro-occupy are against, then they may start digging and researching OTHER things that they don’t know about Obama and become informed.
No biotech event is commercialized until it is tested and approved. Once it is approved, farmers and downstream purchasers need to be able to rely on the determination. Suppose Farmer Bob has planted an approved event. The corn is up, or in the bin, or on a boat to China. An anti-biotech advocacy group goes judge shopping and finds a left wing tool willing to overturn the event approval based on Luddite fantasies and fear mongering press releases. Suddenly everyone in the supply chain has tons of unapproved product, which has very likely been commingled with other varieties, and you’ve now got a major trade disruption. All this legislation does is allow USDA to throw a circuit breaker and buy time for a rational review. Remember that this is with regard to reconsideration of previously approved events that have now entered the supply chain.
Political risk is a growing problem in our brave new world, and a lot of it is judge driven. If an activity is regulated and you have the relevant permits, licenses, or approvals, you should be able to proceed in good faith without gunslinging activist judges changing the rules retroactively.
As to GMOs, most U.S. corn and soybeans have been GM for 15 years. The technology is also spreading rapidly around the world. Activist groups hate it not because it is unsafe (it’s not), but because it’s big corporate agriscience and is best adapted to modern hi tech farming. Those who are nostalgic for endless lines of peasants toiling in the fields hate modern agriculture. The rest of the world, however, is not obligated to remain poor in order to provide photo ops for vacationing westerners.
For its part, Europe doesn’t like biotech because Europe doesn’t want to compete with modern producers in the U.S., Argentina, and Brazil. Partly as a result, Europeans pay twice to three times what we do for food, measured as a percentage of disposable income. Sane people in Europe understand perfectly well that they’ve created a mythological bogeyman as a smokescreen for naked protectionism, but the politics have taken over and reform will be difficult.
Some here seem not to like biotech because they’ve bought in to some of the hobgoblin stories put about by the usual Luddite suspects. If you are one of these folks, the good news is that you have a perfectly simple solution. Buy organic. You will pay a stiff premium and incur the higher health risks attendant on premodern production methods, but that is your call to make.
Thank you for your ray of rationalistic light in this.
Really?
Will your next post be from CPUSA, CSPI, PETA, or Occupy Wall Street?
Apparently, you'll believe anything that's published on the internet. Luddites unite! We have nothing to lose but our brains. Junk science marches on.
Bump.
I’ll add in that much of this opposition to agribusiness is by environmental depopulation proponents. Companies like Monsanto have made farming a lot more efficient to support greater populations. Radical environmentalists want to push that our population is unsustainable.
Show us Luddites the alledged “science” that proves the safety of these seeds.
Fifteen years ago we did not have half the proliferation of diseases that we have now. Coincidence? When man convinces himself that he is smarter than God and Mother Nature, we are all in trouble.
Nothing to see here.. move along folks.
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