Amid pressure from USDA has a new pilot program under which regulators are training personnel at the largest biotech firms, that genetically engineer corps, to essentially perform their own oversight. This change comes as a result of deregulation and involves biotech companies like Monsanto, BASF and Syngenta.
If it weren’t so tragic, this would be laughable. When is it ever considered oversight for a company to audit themselves and not have to submit to outside scrutiny of practices, policies, and procedures? Our food — how it’s grown and where it comes from — is directly related to our health. The stated mission of the USDA is to “provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science, and efficient management.”
I’m voting MISSION FAILURE! on this one…
Under Industry Pressure, USDA Works to Speed Approval of Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered Crops
For years, biotech agriculture opponents have accused regulators of working too closely with big biotech firms when deregulating genetically engineered (GE) crops. Now, their worst fears could be coming true: under a new two-year pilot program at the USDA, regulators are training the world’s biggest biotech firms, including Monsanto, BASF and Syngenta, to conduct environmental reviews of their own transgenic seed products as part of the government’s deregulation process. […] This would eliminate a critical level of oversight for the production of GE crops. Regulators are also testing new cost-sharing agreements that allow biotech firms to help pay private contractors to prepare mandatory environmental statements on GE plants the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is considering deregulating.
Source: Truth Out
Source:
EXCLUSIVE: Under Industry Pressure, USDA Works to Speed Approval of Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered Crops
USDA Mission Statement
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