Originally published November 9 2011
State Department uses taxpayer money to push GMOs in other countries
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) It is no secret that the vast majority of subsidized corn, soy, canola, and cotton grown in the US is of genetically-modified (GM) origin. But it has now been revealed that the US government is also using millions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize the promotion of GMOs across the globe as well.
The administration of so-called "change" has actually taken the previous Bush Administration's promotion of GMOs to a whole new level. Rather than push for mandatory labeling of GMOs like he promised, Barack Obama instead padded his administration with pro-biotechnology lackeys like US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Senior Adviser to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner on Food Safety Michael Taylor (http://www.organicconsumers.org/usda_watch.c...).
So is it any surprise that the head of the State Department's Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs (EEB), Jose W. Fernandez, is also a pro-biotechnology expert lawyer that once held a key role in facilitating mergers and acquisitions in Latin America? His expertise, of course, is now being used to manipulate other countries into accepting GMOs, and the agency he heads is using taxpayer dollars to do it.
According to AlterNet, Fernandez recently spoke at an event attended by high-level government officials, agribusiness CEOs, and others from around the world concerning the supposed benefits of biotechnology. During his speech Fernandez essentially lied to the group by implying that, without GMOs, it would be impossible to produce enough food to feed the world.
Numerous recent studies have shown this to be false, of course, including a comprehensive report conducted by the Rodale Institute which found that organic, small-scale farming methods actually produce higher yields for less cost (http://www.naturalnews.com/033925_organic_fa...).
But why should we let facts get in the way of Big Biotech's agenda to inject its "Frankencrops" into the agricultural economies of countries around the world? And EEB's Office of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Textile Trade Affairs (ABT) has been facilitating this agenda by promoting biotechnology for almost ten years now, which includes distributing roughly half a million in taxpayer-sourced "Biotechnology Outreach Funds" to thrust GMOs on foreign countries.
AlterNet reports that in 2010, a US embassy in Ecuador petitioned ABT for $22,900 to fly five Ecuadorian journalists to the US to participate in a pro-biotech brainwashing retreat. That same year, US embassies in both Brazil and Mozambique requested $64,590 to hold a pro-biotech seminar in Maputo.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.alternet.org/story/152921/why_is_...
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