Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) has introduced amendment #74 to the Senate that would strike the so-called “Monsanto Rider” that would prevent the courts from protecting farmers from GMO crops. Senator Mikulski (D-MD) is sponsoring the rider that opponents such as the Center for Food Safety say is “giving a blank check to Monsanto and other corporations to plant illegal genetically engineered crops.”
The Monsanto Rider (Sec. 735), which was slipped into the Senate Continuing Resolution spending bill, will let industry continue to plant GMO and GE crops even if a court of law found the seeds were illegally approved. It undermines the USDA’s oversight of genetically modified and engineered crops, interferes with the U.S. judicial review process, and could be unconstitutional. It also forces the USDA to immediately approve permits for continued planting of GMO crops
Senator Tester’s amendment is co-sponsored by Senators Boxer (D-CA), Gillibrand (D-NY) Leahy (D-VT), Begich (D-AK), and Blumenthal (D-CT). Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety, said in a statement, “the Senate must say no to corporate welfare for Monsanto and the biotech industry. Passage of the Tester amendment will ensure the responsible regulation of biotech crops and the protection of the judiciary from unconstitutional interference by Congress.”
You can sign the petition at the Center for Food Safety web site. You can also sign a petition against the Monsanto amendment at Food & Water Watch.
This amendment only further propogates Monsanto’s monopoly on crops. The continuous illegal search and seizure because of unexpected cross pollination is completely asinine. By allowing this amendment you will only ruin our agricultural economy.