Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
com
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/11/hunter-lewis/dangerous-food-and-...
1 of 4
11/12/2013 9:49 PM
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/11/hunter-lewis/dangerous-food-and-...
then Deputy Commissioner for Foods.[1] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-HighPlaces#note1] Taylors story, however, is not just about milk, or even mainly about milk. During his second posting at the FDA, as Deputy Commissioner for Policy 19911994, Agency scientists were grappling with questions about the overall safety of genetically engineered foods (often labeled Genetically Modified Organisms). As Jeffrey Smith notes, [Internal] memo after memo described toxins, new diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and hard to detect allergens. [Staff scientists] were adamant that the technology carried serious health hazards, and required careful, long-term research, including human studies. The Agency, under Taylors and later under others leadership, simply ignored these findings. No human studies were required. GMO foods were allowed to enter the food supply unregulated by the FDA and barely regulated by the USDA, which views them as an important US export product. By 2012, in the US, 90 percent of sugar beets (representing half of overall sugar production) was GMO, 85 percent of soybeans (which are to be found in 70 percent of all supermarket food products), and 85 percent of corn, including the corn used to make high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener used in most soft drinks and processed foods. The few scientists trying to conduct independent research on GMO often found their careers damaged. Most food research, conferences, and fellowships are funded by Big Food companies including Monsanto, which has a chilling effect. Even sympathetic colleagues may be reluctant to back those who dare speak out. Those who persevered in conducting independent research, often abroad, reported worrisome findings. An Austrian study found that mice fed GMO corn seemed fine in the first and second generations, but by the third were sterile. A Russian study of hamsters fed GMO soybeans found a similar result. Could human beings exhibit a similar, delayed response? No one knows. Another, unrelated study showed that the pesticide used in large quantities on engineered Roundup Ready crops is toxic to male testicle cells and threatens both testosterone synthesis and sperm count. At the same time that the FDA tries to remain as silent as possible about GMOs, the US Department of Agriculture and other parts of the US government are doing everything they can to promote them. The USDA under both George W. Bush and Obama has sought to accelerate what is already an automatic rubberstamp for new GMO products, to deregulate them (including grasses such as alfalfa that cannot be restricted to the planted area), and to provide immunity from lawsuits over the spread of GMO crops to adjoining organic farms. Immunity from lawsuit was especially ironic. For years, GMO producers had threatened, intimidated, sued, and in every imaginable way attempted to bully adjoining farmers. If any of the patented seeds drifted and were found on the neighboring farm, that farmer would be charged with theft. The clear message: buy the patented seeds or face destruction through legal costs. Remarkably, courts were buying this specious argument. But finally the persecuted began to counter-sue successfully, and the USDA immediately rushed to provide legal immunity to the GMO producers in the form of an insurance policy that organic farmers would have to buy and that would be their only available form of compensation.[2] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/MonsantosFriends-in-High-Places#note2] Although we have chosen to focus on the remarkable revolving door career of Michael Taylor at the
2 of 4
11/12/2013 9:49 PM
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/11/hunter-lewis/dangerous-food-and-...
FDA and Monsanto, because it has potentially affected the future health of hundreds of millions of people, stories like his are not uncommon. A Chicago Tribune article from 2012 is headlined: Chemical Firms Champion New EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Expert. It describes how Todd Stedeford worked at the EPA from 20042007 under the George W. Bush administration, then joined chemical firm Albemarle Corp. While at Albemarle, which makes flame retardants, he defended chemicals used in many products and even suggested that the standard set by the EPA for flame retardants was 500 times too high. Having returned to the EPA in 2011, under President Obama, he is now in charge of a program studying whether dozens of industrial chemicals, including flame retardants, are too dangerous.[3] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-HighPlaces#note3] One must ask: what was the EPA thinking when it made this appointment? Bill Ruckelshaus, twice EPA head, once said that at EPA you work for a cause that is beyond self-interest. Youre not there for the money, you are there for something beyond yourself.[4] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-High-Places#note4] But on leaving the EPA, he himself became a Monsanto director. Meanwhile the Geneva-based Covalence group placed Monsanto dead last on a list of 581 global companies ranked by their reputation for ethics.[5] [http://mises.org /daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-High-Places#note5] A look at some Monsanto representatives and their positions in government: MONSANTO Suzanne Sechen, worked on Monsanto-funded academic research Linda J. Fisher, VP, lobbyist for Monsanto Michael Friedman, MD, Sr. VP, GD Searle, subsidiary of Monsanto Marcia Hale, international lobbyist, Monsanto Michael (Mickey) Kantor, director William D. Ruckelshaus, director US GOVERNMENT A primary reviewer for bovine growth hormone in FDA Assistant Administrator at EPA Acting Commissioner of FDA Assistant to President under President Clinton Secretary of Commerce and US Trade Representative under President Clinton Head of EPA under both Presidents Nixon and Reagan
Notes [1] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-High-Places#ref1] http://www.anh-usa.org (October 12, 2010). [2] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-High-Places#ref2] Ibid., (September 11, 2012). [3] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-High-Places#ref3] Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune (September 10, 2012). [4] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-High-Places#ref4] Oral History interview, Ruckelshaus article, http://www.wikipedia.org. [5] [http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-High-Places#ref5]
3 of 4
11/12/2013 9:49 PM
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/11/hunter-lewis/dangerous-food-and-...
Copyright 2013 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are provided.
4 of 4
11/12/2013 9:49 PM