NOTE: Even though this was posted on May 15, 2010, I think it is still
timely. It also mentions Tom Vilsack, as well as Clarence Thomas.
Hajja Romi
Mark of the Beast: Obama’s latest Monsanto pick, Elena Kagan
Posted on May 15, 2010 by Rady
Monsanto goon Elena Kagan
By Rady Ananda
BUZZ THIS
First, we spit out our coffee over President Obama’s appointments of former
Monsanto goon Michael Taylor as Food Safety [sic] Czar and ‘biotech governor of
the year’ Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture. Then, we choked on our
grits when he made Monsanto lobbyist, Islam Siddiqui,
the US Ag Trade Representative. Now, the real food movement has
completely lost its appetite with Obama’s nomination of Monsanto
defender, Elena Kagan, to the US Supreme Court.
In
December 2009, in her capacity as Solicitor General, Kagan intervened
in the first case on which SCOTUS will rule involving genetically
modified crops, Monsanto v Geertson Seed. She defended Monsanto’s
fight to contaminate the environment with its GM alfalfa, not the
American people’s right to safe feed and a protected environment.
The
lower court ruled that “contamination of organic and conventional
alfalfa crops with the genetically engineered gene has occurred and
defendants acknowledge as much. Such contamination is irreparable
environmental harm.”
Michael Taylor
That other fields, not those of Geertson Seed, et al.,
had been contaminated does not bother Kagan. “The district court failed
to find either that respondents had suffered or were likely to suffer
irreparable harm…”
This flies in the face of reality. The biotech industry has admitted it cannot
prevent contamination of natural fields. When Bayer CropScience contaminated
nearly
a third of the US rice supply with its GM version, its defense lawyers
told jurors that “Bayer’s containment protocols were equal to or
exceeded industry standards when the test rice escaped into the general
supplies.”
Tom Vilsack
If the best containment protocols
don’t work, then contamination cannot be prevented. That is clearly an
indication that natural crop farmers are “likely to suffer irreparable
harm.”
Geertson Seed explains some basic facts about alfalfa and GM contamination:
“Alfalfa is not just a prolific
field crop, but feral alfalfa and weedy alfalfa is commonly found beyond
the fields by roadways, irrigation canals, backyards and beyond….
“Contamination of conventional
alfalfa from genetically engineered alfalfa is a major concern. The
primary mode of contamination is from the movement of pollen by bees
from plant to plant. Alfalfa is pollinated by many different bees and
other insects that fly long distances. Sudden wind gusts like those
associated with summer thunder storms can carry pollinators over greater
distances. When a pollinator visits an alfalfa plant that has the
Roundup Ready (RR) gene inserted, it will pick up the pollen that
contains the RR gene and carry it to a distant conventional alfalfa
plant. If that pollen fertilizes the blossom of the conventional plant,
the resulting seed will contain the RR gene.”
Islam Siddiqui
This contamination becomes
especially important because contaminated alfalfa will continue to
sprout for years: “The seed produced by alfalfa can have 50% or more
dormant seed [which] can lay dormant in the soil for many years.”
Glyphosate is one of the most
toxic herbicides in use today. Monsanto’s trade name for it is Roundup.
Geertson Seed explains that:
“Roundup Ready alfalfa will have a
selective advantage over non GE alfalfa and will become the dominant
weed variety. In turn, the weedy Roundup Ready alfalfa will be difficult
to kill and will become a source of pollen and seed that will
contaminate other feral plants and conventional alfalfa seed fields in
the area. In a few years, it will be extremely difficult to avoid
contamination from GE alfalfa.”
Worse, researchers at
the University of Caen found that Monsanto’s particular formulations of
glyphosate in Roundup “actually amplified glyphosate’s toxic effects,”
which include human cell death.
Kagan
seems to believe that the biotech industry’s inability to prevent
contamination is not an issue for farmers, the environment or we the
people. Her repugnance toward our human right to reject the deployment
of genetically engineered crops comports with corporate views.
She
earns the M on her forehead, joining Justice Clarence Thomas, a former
Monsanto lawyer who corruptly refused to recuse himself from Monsanto v
Geertson Seed.
http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/mark-of-the-beast-obama%E2%80%99s-latest-monsanto-pick-elena-kagan/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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