monsanto

[margene]

Please explain what this protection act means. How I understand it this makes them exempt from being sued. Also does this help or hurt farmers?

[Gregg]

What the "Monsanto rider" does is to eliminate the ability of a court to stop the planting of GMO crops. Right now the courts can block GMO plantings "if a judge felt a review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's approval was warranted over health or environmental concerns". The language was inserted into a Senate appropriations bill that would fund the Federal government through the end of the fiscal year. It was put there by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Democratic Senator from Maryland, but if I understood the story correctly she didn't write it. I believe the language was a left-over from a previous incarnation of the bill. It does not exempt Monsanto from legal action, but does allow them to charge forward with GMO crop planting/production and ties the hands of the courts so they can only deal with whatever happens from there. It probably won't have a big impact on many farmer's bottom lines, but most of the farmers I know are not big advocates of GMOs.

[bUU]

The USDA is essentially a gelding anyway, though this just underscores the fact. It'll be interesting to learn precisely how the provision got into the law, given that Senator Mikulski didn't direct it to be added to the bill. All indications are that the provision was inserted by Roy Blunt, Republican Senator from Missouri, member of the Committee on Appropriations, and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. It seems likely that, as is the case with many things that have come out of that committee over the last thirty years, the provision was actually written by industry lobbyists, and then inserted by a Member of Congress to whom they had made significant campaign contributions. I wonder if some company memo with the original text of the provision ever gets out.

Maybe the litany of prior offenses of this sort over the last thirty of forty years has dulled my senses, but I have a hard time getting as upset about this incident as I recall getting about such incidents ten years ago, twenty years ago, thirty years ago.