MidTerms!!

I have my mid term exam this evening so my letter is short. I must study!!!  

ALERT UPDATE OF THE WEEK 
Obama's Biotech & Chemically Dependent Friends 
Organic Consumers Association network members sent 100,000 emails to Obama last fall opposing Tom Vilsack's appointment as USDA Secretary, because the former Iowa Governor had served as a leading advocate for Monsanto, genetic engineering, and factory farming. We also generated nearly 40,000 letters opposing former Monsanto lobbyist Michael Taylor's appointment as a senior adviser to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner on food safety. 

So far, we've been able to keep Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff (notorious for his support of Monsanto's controversial gene-altered Bovine Growth Hormone) out of the Administration, but President Obama has just nominated two high-profile biotech advocates, closely connected to Monsanto and corporate agribusiness, to key USDA and trade positions. 

Obama has tapped Roger Beachy, long-time president of the Danforth Plant Science Center (Monsanto's nonprofit arm) as chief of the USDA's newly created National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). And Islam Siddiqui, currently the VP of Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America (a major front group for GMO and chemical agriculture), has been nominated for the post of Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative's office. CropLife's regional partner, the Mid America CropLife Association, was the group that infamously chided the First Lady for refusing to use pesticides on the White House garden. Siddiqui gave the maximum personal contribution to Obama's campaign and held a major fundraiser for Obama at his McLean, Virginia home early last year.

LEARN MORE & TAKE ACTION: www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_19325.cfm


Enjoy! Marnie