Environment

Obama looks to Monsanto ally to oversee food safety

by mtippett | July 24, 2009 at 09:18 am

383 views | 50 Recommendations | 4 comments

This is an alarming development for anyone who has a serious interest in food safety in America.

The person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history has just been made the US food safety czar. This is no joke.

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Uwe Paschen

at 09:53 on July 24th, 2009

That is like giving the devil the key to Heaven.

eastvanray

at 13:12 on July 24th, 2009

All I can say is I hope that inauguration party for the Obamaholics was worth the 4 years of hangover for the whole US.

Barbara McPherson

at 13:46 on July 24th, 2009

If people generally don't take the time and interest to ensure that their food is safe to eat and nutritious and produced in a sustainable manner we will continue to get mega-food-factories. Vegetables grown on depleted soil lack nutrients, shipping them adds CO2 to the atmosphere and massive distribution centres spread the bacteria from tainted food far and wide. Witness the current recall in the US and Canada of romaine lettuce because of Salmonella contamination. Once these mega corps eliminate all but 'boutique' family farms, you can bet the price of food will skyrocket as well. Buy locally. Support farmers' markets. Grow what you can.

a211423

at 14:19 on July 24th, 2009

Perhaps Obama's advisors did not investigate his background fully, or were not aware of what Monsanto has done in the U.S. and in other countries.

Forty years ago India had 100,000 varieties of rice. Today it is difficult to find fifty. Why? The introduction of genetically engineered or terminator seeds by Monsanto. They would offer farmers free seeds. The farmers had no idea that these were engineered to kill all competing seeds leaving only the Monsanto seeds. Then Monsanto would go back to the farmers, but this time the farmers had to buy the Monsanto seeds. The farmers had no choice because indigenous varieties would no longer grow. If the farmers could not afford Monsanto seeds, they lost their farms and their livelyhood.

These kinds of practices where profit supercedes health and livelyhood by Monsanto together with the ones stated in the article it is impossible to support the Obama Administration's choice.