White House Pact with Industry to Push Genetically Engineered Plants
ENewspf.com
Thursday, 21 July 2011
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/science-a-environmental/25563-white-house-pactwith-industry-
In an effort to boost exports, the Obama White House has entered into a joint
venture with the agricultural biotechnology industry to remove barriers to the
spread of genetically engineered (GE) crops, even on national wildlife refuges,
according to documents posted today by Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER). Today, PEER sued the White House Trade Representative,
Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and the State Department to force release of
documents detailing their partnership with industry.
Recent successful lawsuits brought by PEER with the Center for Food Safety have
underlined the incompatibility of GE crops with refuge habitats, which has
strengthened objections from GE-averse nations. The Biotechnology Industry
Association (BIO), whose most prominent member is Monsanto, the world's biggest
source of GE crops, approached the Obama White House for assistance. In late
2010, the White House formed an interagency "Agriculture Biotech Working Group"
consisting of more than 35 officials from ten agencies to promote GE
agriculture. This Working Group includes officials from the White House and its
OMB, Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), Council on Environmental
Quality (CEQ) and the Trade Rep. It also has officials from State, Justice,
Agriculture, EPA and FDA.
A central task of this Working Group is to legally insulate GE crops on refuges
from further litigation. Initially, it tried to pressure the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service, which operates the National Wildlife Refuge System, to rescind
its Ecological Integrity Policy, which forbids GE planting unless found to be
essential to accomplishing a refuge purpose. Working with BIO, these officials
then helped prepare environmental assessments to start paving a legal path for
GE plantings on 75 refuges in 30 states.
"With all the environmental challenges facing this country, why is the White
House priority putting wildlife refuges under the thumb of Monsanto?" asked PEER
Staff Counsel Kathryn Douglass, who filed today's Freedom of Information Act
suits. "It is frankly depressing that the top White House official for ecosystem
recovery is hustling genetically altered soybeans on slivers of land set aside
for wildlife."
PEER has submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to most of the agencies
in the Working Group. Today's suits target three key agencies which have not
turned over any documents. PEER has obtained fragmentary documents including a
January 14, 2011 email from Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes relaying
pressure from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that refuges were "not being
consistent in supporting genetically modified crops." Perhaps more telling are
decisions to withhold records showing:
*The depth of collusion with industry. OSTP, for example, is withholding key
portions of its correspondence with a BIO lobbyist on the grounds that it
reveals proprietary information;
*What other actions the White House is pursuing to promote GE crops; and
*Other unannounced industry partnerships the White House has spawned.
"We are on the ground floor of our climb to reach answers to these questions,"
added Douglass, who is pursuing further record releases from the other agencies
involved. "One thing we do know is this Biotech Working Group exhibits the
opposite of the transparent, science-based decision-making we were promised from
this administration."
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance
of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER's environmental work is
solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the
distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in
courage in cubicles across the country.
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