The 'Monsanto Rider': Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity from Federal Law?

From Alternet

The Secretary of Agriculture would be required to grant a permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, regardless of environmental impact.

A so-called “Monsanto rider,” quietly slipped into the multi-billion dollar FY 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill, would require – not just allow, but require - the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed. All the farmer or the biotech producer has to do is ask, and the questionable crops could be released into the environment where they could potentially contaminate conventional or organic crops and, ultimately, the nation’s food supply.

So, what I'm getting is that potentially, Monsanto and other Bio-engineering companies can ASK for a permit to grow new and current GM crops, and this permit will supersede even a federal court ordered environmental impact statement (a study to determine the impact these crops may have on the environment)!!!!

Ceding broad and unprecedented powers to industry, the rider poses a direct threat to the authority of U.S. courts, jettisons the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) established oversight powers on key agriculture issues and puts the nation’s farmers and food supply at risk.

Um yea.. GM foods are already putting us all at risk.. due to unknown health impacts and environmental impacts!

Who is the 'saviour' of the GM industry that put this forward??

The agricultural sub-committee chair Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) – who not coincidentally was voted "legislator of the year for 2011-2012" by none other than the Biotechnology Industry Organization, whose members include Monsanto and DuPont. As reported by Mother Jones, the Biotechnology Industry Organization declared Kingston a "champion of America's biotechnology industry" who has "helped to protect funding for programs essential to the survival of biotechnology companies across the United States."

LOL! legislator of the year as voted by the Bio-Tech Giants.. yea, some hero!

Thoughts?!

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Damn those corporate lobbyists just won't stop. Protest against this guys. Protest hard. If possible try and forge a court case. Monsanto have lost before they can lose again. Scum.

Probably about to gain immunity considering...

Monsanto's Government Ties


&

A Monsanto official told the New York Times that the corporation should not have to take responsibility for the safety of its food products.
Read more...

It looks to me that they're trying to give their big corporate donors the same immunity from the legislation they pass as CONgress has.

Next, they'll give their big donors the right to trade on insider info just like they do.

This makes me insane-- I can't even post intelligently about it! Ahhhhhgggg!
S&F, i will keep track of this thread & return when I calm down and can think clearer. Thanks for the heads up.

They may write something into law but it won't hold much weight.

The courts and the justice department are the final hammer in such matters so to speak.

Sure they could plant the illegal crops, kinda hard to do when a judge locks up all the workers on contempt of court though.

I'm not very worried about this, anything that under cuts the judicial bench like this upsets the courts.
When the courts are upset they can and often do take steps to prevent you from subverting their authority.

Pure evil. DuPont is one of the main reasons cannabis was criminalized; Monsanto is literally trying to take over the world food supply down to the local level. Corporate tyrants work in unison with government agencies like the FDA, DHS, EPA, CIA, Federal Reserve; and have infiltrated the political spectrum completely. Their power and influence pervades the globe -- media & even internet now.

It's not just the fact that they want complete legal immunity & free range to contaminate the planet as is; which they essentially already do. But they're even making attempts to criminalize growing organic food on your OWN property. Farmers are committing suicide by the droves due to the effects of patented crops turning up on their land, resulting in lawsuits against them.

Bernie Sanders' legislation allowing states to require GMO labeling on food without being able to be SUED by Monsanto, was shut down. So what's clear is that the human species is under attack by a "sub-species" of ruthless elites. There's no controversy on whether that's a fact, because it is; rather the controversy is on whether we have the right to allow these monsters to exist. With so much of the world either immobilized in poverty or borderline brain-dead from same propaganda machine that's making time for its owners, it's hard to say what will come of this.

People are either aware or they aren't. Those that are not aware of what Monsatan and its' conglomerate are doing are too caught up in the rat race to realize they're hopelessly subservient. And even those that have some clue as to what's going on behind the scenes feel at a loss for words & action.

What to do? =/

Originally posted by Raelsatu
But they're even making attempts to criminalize growing organic food on your OWN property. Farmers are committing suicide by the droves due to the effects of patented crops turning up on their land, resulting in lawsuits against them.

This right here not only annoys me but confuses the hell out of me.

How can Monsanto sue the organic farmers.
The organic farmers are the ones who should be able to file charges.
Because Monsanto refuses to prevent the spread of their contaminated pollen, organic farms become contaminated with GMO pollen.
That means that the crops are no longer organic.
It's not that organic farmers are stealing Monsanto property.
Monsanto is in essence dumping toxic refuse on the organic farmers.

Monsanto is literally physically destroying the organic crop.
To me that is felony destruction of property, not to mention corporate sabotage which is also a felony.
Not only should the farmers be able to be the ones suing, but there should be criminal charges.

I don't understand how they get away with this...

and guess who is sec. of agriculture

tom vilsack,,, chief monsanto apologist,,, and monsanto lackey ,,, and appeaser


$97 billion annual budget-usda

Vilsack’s business as usual positions have included the following:


· Vilsack has been a strong supporter of genetically engineered pharmaceutical crops, especially pharmaceutical corn.

· The biggest biotechnology industry group, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, named Vilsack Governor of the Year. He is also the founder and former chair of the Governor’s Biotechnology Partnership.

· When Vilsack created the Iowa Values Fund, his first poster child for economic development was Trans Ova and their pursuit of cloning dairy cows.

· The undemocratic 2005 seed pre-emption bill was the Vilsack’s brainchild. The law strips local government’s right to regulate genetically engineered seed.

· Vilsack is an ardent supporter of corn and soy based biofuels, which use as much or more energy to produce as they generate and drive up world food prices, literally starving the poor.
www.counterpunch.org...



also---- this just gives him the law for what he has already been doing

as a recent headline----In a stunning reversal, USDA chief Vilsack greenlights Monsanto’s alfalfa ,,2011

reply to post by TechUnique
No don't protest, instead you should rip them apart very slowly with a butter knife or better yet, feed them the crap they feed us. But really, protesting? These guys are evil, you need to fight evil with evil and what better way than to do an old fashioned shovel neighborhood beat down. Lol "protest hard" CMON where's "throw the rocks hard" these #ers are backed by the governments that allow their so-called foods to run rampant, what makes you think protesting let alone attacking their make-belief money supply would do anything?

How many people know they exist and that they continually and knowingly # up our food supplies? They're trying to take over all the seeds we have by using their own patented crap. Essentially trying to claim the seeds of Earth but wtf are we going to do about it? Probably nothing cause some jack ass suggested others to protest, what ever the # that does. We need bats, we need hoods, we need people to come together and demand those low-life cowards be put in jail for life or else we'd handle them. Do you not understand this? The longer you believe peace is the answer the more pain and suffering is caused. Peace it not the answer, not when we have so many enemies to take on with so many #ing guns and more. Technology up the ass more but do we care? # no cause we have our own weapons and ability to create what we want when we want. It's just we're attuned to eating potato chips and flapping off to porn ads, for now.

reply to post by TechUnique


The irony is that once you give government the ability to regulate business, you also create the motivation for business to corrupt government.

It is the law of unintended consequences.

You reap what you sow.

Its not a permit if its not asking for permission to do it. What it is, in truth, is merely a notification of action without permission.

Monsanto must be stopped before it starts to "passively" inject itself into our lifestyle.