Leaked: US diplomats working for Monsanto
Another document via Wikileaks reveals controversial corporate influence in American government and foreign policy. At least one US ambassador urged a trade war against Europe for its resistance against Biotech giant Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) crops. CBS reports,
According to the leaked cable, Ambassador Craig Stapleton, a friend and former business partner of Bush, sent a message to Washington in 2007 suggesting the U.S. government, “calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits.
“The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices,” said Stapleton, according to a report in The Guardian.
Naturalnews.com notes that “many” US ambassadors share in this vice and agenda toward several countries, including, recently, the Vatican. But foreign influence is not the half of it. Monsanto has “infiltrated” key positions in the US in order to advance legislation and regulations that favor the company’s agenda of total dominance of the food market.
Amazingly, the information reveals that the massive corporation is also intensely involved in the passing and regulations concerning the very GM ingredients they are responsible for. In fact, the information released by WikiLeaks reveals just how much power Monsanto has thanks to key positions within the United States government and elsewhere. Not only was it exposed that the U.S. is threatening nations who oppose Monsanto with military-style trade wars, but that many U.S. diplomats actually work directly for Monsanto. . . .
The undying support of key players within the U.S. towards Monsanto is undeniably made clear not only in this release, but in the legislative decisions taken by organizations such as the FDA and USDA. Legislative decisions such as allowing Monsanto’s synthetic hormone Posilac (rBGH) to be injected into U.S. cows despite being banned in 27 countries. How did Monsanto pull this off?
The biotech juggernaut managed to infiltrate the FDA positions responsible for the approval of rBGH, going as far as instating the company’s own Margaret Miller as Deputy Director of Human Safety and Consultative Services. After assuming this position, Miller reviewed her own report on the safety and effectiveness of rBGH.
Monsanto uses more conventional avenues of influence as well. According to lobbying watchdog site opensecrets.org, Monsanto topped the Agricultural Services/Products Industry, spending $6.37 million dollars lobbying last year alone.