The continuing appropriations act to fund essential programs is now waiting on the desk of Obama. An odd thing about our GoviCorp is that they often put in addendums and amendments that have nothing to do with the “purpose” for the legislation they claim as so necessary.
As I said in my previous post on this topic, what we have is one hand washing the other. They “save” the USDA meat inspectors from furlough and the resultant shut down of 6,000 processing plants and all the workers that would be affected by such a shut down are happy. In the same legislation, they hand Monsanto, Syngenta and Bayer a free pass to contaminate the nation without doing proper impact analyses of their frankenfoods.
The American Diet
This is the section that is so offensive to people who would like to see GMO’s at the very least labeled as such on food stuffs:
SEC. 735. In the event that a determination of non-regulated
status made pursuant to section 411 of the Plant Protection Act
is or has been invalidated or vacated, the Secretary of Agriculture
shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon request
by a farmer, grower, farm operator, or producer, immediately grant
temporary permit(s) or temporary deregulation in part, subject to
necessary and appropriate conditions consistent with section 411(a)
or 412(c) of the Plant Protection Act, which interim conditions
shall authorize the movement, introduction, continued cultivation,
commercialization and other specifically enumerated activities and
requirements, including measures designed to mitigate or minimize
potential adverse environmental effects, if any, relevant to the
Secretary’s evaluation of the petition for non-regulated status, while
ensuring that growers or other users are able to move, plant,
cultivate, introduce into commerce and carry out other authorized
activities in a timely manner: Provided, That all such conditions
shall be applicable only for the interim period necessary for the
Secretary to complete any required analyses or consultations related
to the petition for non-regulated status: Provided further, That
nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the Secretary’s
authority under section 411, 412 and 414 of the Plant Protection
Act.
Sections 411 and 412 are about plant pest and noxious weeds, and the Secretary’s prescribed method for dealing with those in imports and commerce. Section 414 deals with the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to order the destruction of noxious weeds that are new or unknown.
If we could ever have a Secretary of Agriculture that wasn’t owned and operated by the biotech industries, Sec. 414 might give us a chance at controlling the proliferation of genetically modified plants, but Vilsack has proven himself to be more than a friend of Monsanto et al, so there isn’t hope for help in that quarter.
The Federal GoviCorp and their multi-national corporate friends have once again shown whom they represent. As has often been said, we have the best government money can buy. Too bad we don’t have real money any longer either.
Truth Farmer 