Monsanto rated among worst corporate lobbyists

Monday, February 28, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: Monsanto, lobbyists, health news

(NaturalNews) New Internationalist Magazine recently released its Top Ten worst corporate lobbyists, and featured in this "hall of shame" list is biotechnology giant Monsanto. The report explains that the Obama administration is "littered" with ex-Monsanto executives, and that the company spends millions of dollars every year lobbying the U.S. government to further its own agenda.

At least three former Monsanto execs hold high positions of power in the Obama administration. Michael Taylor, senior adviser to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), used to be vice president of Monsanto. Islam Siddiqui, former vice president of the Monsanto-funded lobbying group CropLife, is now a negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative on agriculture. And Roger Beachy, the director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is former director of a plant science center funded by Monsanto.

Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court was also another victory for Monsanto, as Kagan defended Monsanto's "right" to contaminate the environment with GM alfalfa in the case of Monsanto v. Geertson Seed. Perhaps Kagan's nomination was greased with a little bit of Monsanto lobbying funds, which in 2010 alone topped $8 million.

All around the world, Monsanto spends big bucks promoting itself as a savior of the planet, lying to governments and to the public about the supposed benefits of its GM crops and their extreme chemical dependency. Comprehensive evidence has shown, however, that despite all the lofty claims, GMOs have not improved yields, and they certainly are not better for the environment. They have also never been proven safe for consumption.

Current Monsanto efforts include pushing EU officials to accept its GM soy for use in biofuels, advocating "no till" farming methods that will advance its own agenda for gaining carbon credits, and actively chipping away at EU regulations that oppose wider cultivation and use of its GM crops as food.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.newint.org/features/2011/01/01/10...

http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.p...