The Trans-Pacific Partnership means GMOs in your food. Your ability to control what you eat, or even know what is in the food you eat, will be gone if the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership currently being negotiated in secret sessions among the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries is passed. The Obama administration, guided by Monsanto and other agribusiness and pharmaceutical companies, is pushing for rules that put corporate greed ahead of food safety and consumers right to know what were eating. The text of the TPP is secret — not even members of Congress are allowed to see it — but hundreds of corporate representatives are helping to write the text. Part of this plan involves companies like Monsanto inducing the U.S. to put their preferred intellectual property, environmental, food safety and capital-markets laws into force. This will benefit only Big Ag and Big Pharma by allowing the cultivation of genetically modified organisms in all TPP countries and will also act to prevent mandatory GMO labeling in order to integrate GMOs into the food supply while removing traceability and accountability. As a result, “inconvenient” U.S. environmental, food safety and labeling laws and rules will be overruled by Monsanto under the TPP without a direct democratic vote on any issue. Increased Environmental Pollution is a Consequence of the TP P . Already weak U.S. environmental and consumer-safety laws would be further weakened. Some GMO foods are already allowed in some TPP countries but not yet allowed in the U.S. because federal regulators have not determined that these GMO foods are “safe” for human consumption. Once the U.S. signs the TPP, the authority to regulate or prohibit GMO foods not demonstrated as safe will be undermined by the ability of multinational corporations to invalidate host country’s environmental- and consumer-safety laws and regulations. The TPP means unknown Environmental Cross-Contamination. One of the 12 countries in TPP negotiations, Vietnam, has some of the last untouched rainforest on earth. Allowing GMO crops will result in clear-cutting much of that forest to grow GMO crops upon principles of economies of scale. The risk of cross-pollination of GMO pollen with wild flora will occur and have unknown consequences on the plants and animals that eat them in fragile ecosystems. Already, in the U.S. and Canada, farmers report contamination of their crops from GMO strains being used on neighboring lands. Incredibly, Monsanto then sues these farmers for illegal use of their patents! Food Security Decreases under the TP P . Monsanto already controls about 90 percent of the global GMO seed market — giving it a tremendous monopoly power to control supply and set prices. The monoculture caused by the standardization of crops from GMO seeds will devastate rural communities, biodiversity and the environment, and leave GMO crops immunologically exposed to crop viruses. Under the TPP, Monsanto would be allowed to add other crops such as alfalfa to the line of its “Roundup Ready” products — these are crops that are genetically engineered to be able to withstand heavy application of Monsanto’s Roundup pesticides. As insects become increasingly immune to Roundup, farmers drastically increase the amount of Roundup pesticides they apply to their lands. This not only degrades the soil, it send more pesticide runoff into groundwater and downstream rivers, creating environmental devastation. TPP will Replace Family Farms with Corporate Agribusiness. The elimination of protective tariffs will drive small farmers and peasants off their land because they will not be able to pay the finance costs of GMO seeds or sell non-“standardized” crops and this will destroy heirloom brands and biodiversity. Access to “local grown” food will end. Big Ag has already started a “land grab” to consolidate its control over both production and distribution. “Free-trade” agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) being negotiated between the U.S. and the European Union, will ensure that a handful of corporations, led by Monsanto, will obtain their goal of controlling the world’s food. President Obama: Shilling for Monsanto. Youve probably heard that President Obama appointed Monsanto s former vice- president for public policy as deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and that he signed the Monsanto Protection Act. But did you know that he appointed a lobbyist for Croplife, an industry group representing Monsanto, as his chief agriculture negotiatior in the Office of the US Trade Representative, the branch of government negotiating TPP and TAFTA, a TPP-style agreement with the European Union? The Obama administration is not only driving TPP and TAFTA, but is calling on Congress to vote to grant the President Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority. According to Public Citizens Global Trade Watch, “ Fast Track is the process that gives the executive branch the authority to negotiate and write trade agreements and delegates away Congress’ constitutional power to set the terms of U.S. trade policy. Fast Track creates special rules for considering trade agreements by allowing the executive branch to sign an agreement before Congress votes on it and only gives Congress 90 days to vote on the trade deal. Under Fast Track, the president is authorized to negotiate trade agreements with foreign countries without consulting Congress or state legislators. After the executive branch locks down the terms of the deal and writes the implementing legislation, Congress is only permitted a yes or no vote, while states are virtually left out of the process. Thus, state and congressional officials elected to represent the public interest have no role in the process but to approve or disapprove the whole package.” Thus, Congress will be stripped of the power to amend TPP to remove its most egregious pro-Monsanto, anti-consumer provisions. WHAT YOU CAN DO Call and email your Congressional Representative and demand that he or she publicly commit to vote against Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority. Let your Rep know that you want Congress to maintain its power to amend trade agreements in order to remove or modify provisions that weaken food safety standards. Let them know that safe food is more important than Monsantos greed! You can find out who represents you in Congress and find their contact information at gjae.org/leg. When you call, ask to speak to your Representatives legislative assistant on trade. To learn more about TPP, TAFTA, and Fast Track and find out about additional actions you can take to stop them, contact Global Justice for Animals and the Environment, 34-21 Crescent Street, Astoria, NY 11106 Phone: (718) 218-4523 Email: [email protected] Web: gjae.org
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 10:08:11 +0000
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