Meet Monsanto’s number one lobbyist: Barack Obama

by Jon Rappoport

September 24, 2012

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During his 2008 campaign for president, Barack Obama transmitted signals that he understood the GMO issue. Several key anti-GMO activists were impressed. They thought Obama, once in the White House, would listen to their concerns and act on them.

These activists weren’t just reading tea leaves. On the campaign trail, Obama said:

“Let folks know when their food is genetically modified, because Americans have a right to know what they’re buying.”

Making the distinction between GMO and non-GMO was certainly an indication that Obama, unlike the FDA and USDA, saw there was an important line to draw in the sand.

Beyond that, Obama was promising a new era of transparency in government. He was adamant in promising that, if elected, his administration wouldn’t do business in “the old way.” He would be “responsive to people’s needs.”

Then came the reality.

After the election, and during Obama’s term as president, people who had been working to label GMO food and warn the public of its huge dangers were shocked to the core. They saw Obama had been pulling a bait and switch.

The new president filled key posts with Monsanto people, in federal agencies that wield tremendous force in food issues, the USDA and the FDA:

At the USDA, as the director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Roger Beachy, former director of the Monsanto Danforth Center.

As deputy commissioner of the FDA, the new food-safety-issues czar, the infamous Michael Taylor, former vice-president for public policy for Monsanto. Taylor had been instrumental in getting approval for Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone.

As commissioner of the USDA, Iowa governor, Tom Vilsack. Vilsack had set up a national group, the Governors’ Biotechnology Partnership, and had been given a Governor of the Year Award by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, whose members include Monsanto.

As the new Agriculture Trade Representative, who would push GMOs for export, Islam Siddiqui, a former Monsanto lobbyist.

As the new counsel for the USDA, Ramona Romero, who had been corporate counsel for another biotech giant, DuPont.

As the new head of the USAID, Rajiv Shah, who had preciously worked in key positions for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a major funder of GMO agriculture research.

We should also remember that Obama’s secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, once worked for the Rose law firm. That firm was counsel to Monsanto.

Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the US Supreme Court. Kagan, as federal solicitor general, had previously argued for Monsanto in the Monsanto v. Geertson seed case before the Supreme Court.

The deck was stacked. Obama hadn’t simply made honest mistakes. Obama hadn’t just failed to exercise proper oversight in selecting appointees. He wasn’t just experiencing a failure of short-term memory. He was staking out territory on behalf of Monsanto and other GMO corporate giants.

And now let us look at what key Obama appointees have wrought for their true bosses. Let’s see what GMO crops have walked through the open door of the Obama presidency.

Monsanto GMO alfalfa.

Monsanto GMO sugar beets.

Monsanto GMO Bt soybean.

Coming soon: Monsanto’s GMO sweet corn.

Syngenta GMO corn for ethanol.

Syngenta GMO stacked corn.

Pioneer GMO soybean.

Syngenta GMO Bt cotton.

Bayer GMO cotton.

ATryn, an anti-clotting agent from the milk of transgenic goats.

A GMO papaya strain.

And perhaps, soon, genetically engineered salmon and apples.


The Matrix Revealed


This is an extraordinary parade. It, in fact, makes Barack Obama the most GMO-dedicated politician in America.

You don’t attain that position through errors or oversights. Obama was, all along, a stealth operative on behalf of Monsanto, biotech, GMOs, and corporate control of the future of agriculture.

From this perspective, Michelle Obama’s campaign for home gardens and clean nutritious food suddenly looks like a diversion, a cover story floated to obscure what her husband has actually been doing.

Nor does it seem coincidental that two of the Obama’s biggest supporters, Bill Gates and George Soros, purchased 900,000 and 500,000 shares of Monsanto, respectively, in 2010.

Because this is an election season, people will say, “But what about Romney? Is he any better?” I see no indication that he is. The point, however, is that we are talking about a sitting president here, a president who presented himself, and was believed by many to be, an extraordinary departure from politics as usual.

Not only was that a wrong assessment, Obama was lying all along. He was, and he still is, Monsanto’s man in Washington.

To those people who fight for GMO labeling, and against the decimation of the food supply and the destruction of human health, but still believe Obama is a beacon in bleak times:

Wake up.

Sources:

http://redgreenandblue.org/2012/02/02/monsanto-employees-in-the-halls-of-government-part-2/

http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/02/09/monsanto-employees-in-the-halls-of-government/

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/10/fda-labeling-gmo-genetically-modified-foods

http://fooddemocracynow.org/blog/2011/feb/15/update-obama-goes-rogue-gmos-tell-him-say-no-monsa/

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/genetically-engineered-foods/

http://news.yahoo.com/not-altruistic-truth-behind-obamas-global-food-security-174700462.html

Jon Rappoport

The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED, EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free NoMoreFakeNews emails here or his OutsideTheRealityMachine emails here.

11 comments on “Meet Monsanto’s number one lobbyist: Barack Obama

  1. USA Zorroz Press says:

    A most thorough and reflective GMO political news article, thank you very much, great reporting

  2. maulfair says:

    Reblogged this on Maulfair Medical Center Conversations and commented:
    Having just returned from the International College of Integrative Medicine conference in Cleveland, listening to Dr. Anderson; a soil conservationist, scientist, farmer and physician, talk about the devastation of human and animal health at the hands of GMO crops Jon beat me to the topic of GMO foods as a problem but he has done it again. He exposes the people propping up Monsanto and others and this piece of investigation will clarify for you why it is so hard to change things in Washington through the activities of the agencies you think are looking out for you.

  3. OhioRiver says:

    “…president, Barack Obama transmitted signals that he understood the GMO issue.” Obama has always thrown his supporters under the bus and then went out seeking new supporters. In this case Monsanto replaces the American citizen. http://www.booksbyoliver.com should explain the alternative to saving America. It’s a thriller of the year so I recommend it.

  4. Marnie Glickman says:

    Vote Jill Stein for President. The Green Party has always supported a ban on GMOs.

  5. TF says:

    Obama, the destroyer of all life except his.

  6. Thomas Turk says:

    What about GMOs and cancer? Read about the new secret French studies showing massive cancers in rats that lived their normal life span of 80 days, whereas as the ‘safe’ reports from the GMO companies are terminated after only 60 days.

    The French Govt. is now demanding an inquiry.

    http://www.naturalnews.com/037249_GMO_study_cancer_tumors_organ_damage.html

  7. saintalbanstudio says:

    My question is this, do we elect the President whom we can then force through activism and protest to stop Monsanto’s new Food Empire building plans…or do we elect Mitt Romney whom we know will not be swayed by any form of protests or activism and who is already in the pocket of major polluters and criminals world wide? And why mention Hillary Clinto working for Rose Law? That was at a time when Monsanto was failing as a company, and we don’t know if she defended anyone in Monsanto at the time. Do you want Change? Then elect a leader who has shown he is wiling to change. Maybe his wife is silently trying to push him into seeing he cannot feed his children this crap. We know we cannot make Monsanto stop its practices. But we CAN refuse to buy any Monsanto tainted product if we know it’s on our shelves. Only We the People, not Obama, can make sure we enact laws to force Monsanto and others to label foods. And we can pressure Obama. But you wil never be abnle to pressure Romney.

  8. Yvonne Blasy says:

    Jon, thanks for adding links where we can read where you got your info. I’ve been following your work ever since reading The Secret of Secret Societies, an I appreciate the truth you’re bringing to the table. Many thanks!

  9. Reblogged this on The Black Square and commented:
    The safety of our food should be apolitical and it clearly is….BOTH parties don’t give a shit about your health or that of your children. Remember this pressing issue was not mentioned ONCE during the debates.

  10. Kelly hanner says:

    Absolutely chilling to read this and know he has another 4 years in office. Who else can he possibly add to his diabolical team?

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