Monsanto Protection Act looks to circumvent federal courts

Yes folks, it’s that time of the month again.  Prepare yourself for another round of big business versus public safety.  This time around, it’s long-time offender and GMO giant Monsanto and their attempt to sneak a rider clause onto a budget bill.  The Farmer Assurance Provision, AKA the Monsanto Protection Act, puts the reins on federal courts when it comes to regulating questionable GMOs, thus ensuring that companies like Monsanto maintain their profits even if it creates serious health or environmental concerns for the U.S. and its citizens.

Basically, this rider allows GMO producers to continue selling and farmers to continue planting even when a GMO has been found questionable and is under investigation.  Until a full assessment of health and safety is done, the GMO product is treated as if it is completely healthy and ready to eat.  What makes it even more interesting is that even if during the assessment evidence is found to suggest the product is dangerous, they can still keep selling it until the assessment is done.  The federal courts, which are currently in charge of making this decision, would be cut out of the process completely, given the American people no way to defend themselves or preserve their health other than being very particular about what they eat.

They managed to get this monstrosity into the voting process by sneaking it onto the Senate Continuing Resolution spending bill.  Of course, what better way is there to negotiate past health concerns than to tack your completely unrelated bill into a budget plan?  Their excuse is that the provision protects farmers, although they seem to have quite a few enemies on that front.  The chief opponents of the provision, in fact, are small farmers, along with various environmental groups.

Whether you agree on the dangers of GMOs or not, it seems ludicrous to block the ability of the U.S. citizen to protect themselves from potential health dangers.  How is it that companies like Monsanto are able to destroy the proper lawmaking process and do it in such a way as to compromise the budget plan?

Luckily, there’s an amendment that was put together by a group of Democrats that would remove the rider.  If you’re worried about being fed dangerous foods due to Monsanto’s interference in the legal process, you can show your support for the amendment by heading to the Food Democracy Now website and signing their petition.  If not, then make sure to keep a close eye on what you eat.

Hugh Grant photo courtesy of Janine Moraes via Wikicommons