By Barbara H. Peterson
Let’s face it. We are a country of uninformed, docile, narcissistic people who eat what we are told, when we are told, and don’t look too closely at how that food is prepared, and what it is doing to our health. We also don’t look too closely at agricultural practices and CAFOs because just as long as we have that steak on the platter with a big juicy ear of corn to go with it, we simply DO NOT CARE how it got there or where it came from. We look at a packaged chicken in the grocer’s deli section and don’t even think of it as coming from a living, breathing animal.
This is how Monsanto stole our birthright. Not through some ingenious plan of subterfuge, although they most certainly do use those methods when necessary, but through the most simplest of plans – counting on the American people to allow others to rule them through their stomachs. Ever hear the saying “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?” Well Monsanto has!!! Hell, the company probably invented the term just so it could reap the benefits of using our stomachs against us!
And now what is happening? Well, one of the biggest cases to come before the Supreme Court regarding the uncontrolled spread of GMO on this planet via the American stomach is about to be heard by a Monsanto shill. Yes, you heard me, Clarence Thomas is a Monsanto shill. Or at least I would take odds on it. He is an ex Monsanto lawyer, and he is set to hear a case involving, you guessed it, Monsanto’s right to pollute and control the planet via food!
In Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case which could have an enormous effect on the future of the American food industry. This is Monsanto’s third appeal of the case, and if they win a favorable ruling from the high court, a deregulated Monsanto may find itself in position to corner the markets of numerous U.S. crops, and to litigate conventional farmers into oblivion. (http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20437.cfm)
And Clarence Thomas is set to hear the case:
From the years 1976 – 1979, Thomas worked as an attorney for Monsanto. Thomas apparently does not see this as a conflict of interest and has not recused himself. (http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20437.cfm)
Gee, I wonder how that is going to turn out? Care to make a wager? I will be completely surprised if we are not up to our eyeballs in GM alfalfa very soon.
The lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs which include the Center for Food Safety, the National Family Farm Coalition, Sierra Club, Dakota Resources Council and other farm, environmental and consumer groups and individual farmers. The original decision :The federal district court in California issued its opinion on the deregulation of “Roundup Ready” alfalfa pursuant to the Plant Protection Act on February 13, 2007. Upon receiving Monsanto’s petition for deregulation of the alfalfa seed, APHIS conducted an Environmental Assessment and received over 500 comments in opposition to the deregulation. The opposition’s primary concern was the potential of contamination. APHIS, however, made a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and approved the deregulation petition, thereby allowing the seed to be sold without USDA oversight.
Geertson Seed Farms, joined by a number of growers and associations, filed claims under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as well as the Endangered Species Act and Plant Protection Act. In regards to NEPA, they argued that the agency should have prepared an EIS for the deregulation.
Addressing only the NEPA claims, the court agreed that APHIS should have conducted an EIS because of the significant environmental impact posed by deregulation of the alfalfa seed. A realistic potential for contamination existed, said the court, but the agency had not fully inquired into the extent of this potential. The court also determined that APHIS did not adequately examine the potential effects of Roundup Ready alfalfa on organic farming and the development of glyphosate-resistant weeds and that there were “substantial questions” raised by the deregulation petition that the agency should have addressed in an EIS.
Concluding that the question of whether the introduction of the genetically engineered alfalfa and its potential to affect non-genetic alfalfa posed a significant environmental impact necessitated further study, the court found that APHIS’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious” and ordered the agency to prepare an EIS. The court later enjoined the planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa from March 30, 2007, until completion of the EIS and reconsideration of the deregulation petition, except for those farmers who had already purchased the seed. In May of 2007, the court enjoined any future planting of the alfalfa. An order by the court in June, 2007 required disclosure of all Roundup Ready planting sites.Monsanto filed appeals in 2008 and 2009. In both instances, they were unsuccessful in having the original decision reversed, so they appealed to the Supreme Court, who agreed to hear the case. (http://current.com/news/92330224_conflict-of-interest-ex-monsanto-lawyer-clarence-thomas-to-hear-major-monsanto-case.htm)
Enter Judge Clarence Thomas, ex Monsanto lawyer and shill for GMOs. Or maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to judge. Maybe Clarence will suddenly change his stripes and become a champion of human rights and put Monsanto in its place. And maybe, just maybe, the sky will be pink in the morning and I will have grown two heads, and if Monsanto has anything to do with it, that is quite possible.
Just why is this case so important?
Alfalfa is very easily cross-pollinated by bees and by wind. The plant is also perennial, meaning GMO plants could live on for years. “The way this spreads so far and wide, it will eliminate the conventional alfalfa industry,” said Trask. “Monsanto will own the entire alfalfa industry.” (http://current.com/news/92330224_conflict-of-interest-ex-monsanto-lawyer-clarence-thomas-to-hear-major-monsanto-case.htm)
Just ask Percy Schmeiser, or a number of other farmers who have been sued by Monsanto because their fields got contaminated by patented GMO technology via cross-pollination and horizontal transfer. While you’re at it, think about what you are putting in your mouth daily, several times a day, then think of Monsanto controlling it all. Think Anniston, dioxins, agent orange, and Roundup. But most of all, THINK!!!
Monsanto has a policy of filing lawsuits or taking other legal actions against farmers who harvest crops that show the presence of the company’s patented gene technology. It has sued farmers even when they have tried to keep their own fields free from contamination by biotech plants on neighboring farms.
The case has implications beyond alfalfa crops. About eight hundred reviewed genetically engineered food applications were submitted to the USDA, yet no environmental impact statements were prepared. Even as this diary is being written, a federal judge in San Francisco is reviewing a similar case involving genetically modified sugar beets. The decision is expected this week and could halt planting and use of the gm sugar beets, which account for half of America’s sugar supply. http://current.com/news/92330224_conflict-of-interest-ex-monsanto-lawyer-clarence-thomas-to-hear-major-monsanto-case.htm)
The case is set for argument on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 (http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/09-475.htm)
To find out what genetically modified (GMO) food is, how it is made, and the dangers it poses to our health and the environment, go here: http://aggie.farmwars.info and view “The Adventures of Aggie the Traveling Agrobacterium” full preview. Then join me in my decision to boycott GMOs.
(C) 2010 Barbara H. Peterson
Tags: alfalfa, Clarence thomas, genetic modification, GMO, monsanto
UPDATE!
Here is the latest on the Supreme Court case of Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms (No. 09-475):
Do NEPA violations cause irreparable harm?
Monsanto Co. v. Geerston Seed Farms, argument preview
http://www.scotusblog.com/2010.....able-harm/
By the way, The Federal Government is and has been testifying in support of Monsanto. Read it yourself:
Go HERE: http://farmwars.info/?p=2850
One Third of our Food Supply Depends Upon Bees! Bees need nectar and pollen from plants that are left to bloom. The contract that Monsanto would require for the grower of GM alfalfa to sign, places all responsibility upon the gower to “not allow any bloom”. I sincerely believe that RR Alfalfa (the first GM perennial), if released as proposed, will cause havoc to the Environment and much discontent among neighbors. Albert Einstein is credited with this quote. “If bees would be removed from the face of the earth, mankind would only exist about four more years. I hope we do not try to put this statement to a test.
Stephen, It’s delightful to read you here. I went blind in early 07 and lost touch with you and Information Clearing House. I thought I re subscribed last week but have received nothing in my email. Keep up the good work.
Hmm, Monsanto’s obviously has an uphill battle But if Justice Clarence Thomas cannot be objective then he needs to recuse himself, or just pay attention to what hes supposed to do which is protect rights of individuals and corporations and find truth.
A vital topic, one I’ve written on several times, very much taking aim at Monsanto’s strategy to pollute the plant with GMO poison. Why I’m a vegetarian and eat as much organic as possible. Even that’s no defense as wind spreads GMOs everywhere so pure organic a memory, in America for sure.