United States diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show that the US Department of State lobbied across the globe on behalf of the Monsanto company and other biotech corporations that peddle genetically-modified crops.
Nonprofit consumer protection group Food & Water Watch
published a report on Tuesday that demonstrates a partnership
between the federal government and a number of controversial
biotech companies that have slowly but surely pushed their GMO
products on a number of new countries in recent years.
At center stage in the report is Monsanto, the St. Louis,
Missouri-based makers of genetically-modified crops and
genetically-engineered seeds that has continuously generated
criticism as of late over its practices both on
the growing field and in a court of law. Monsanto is among the most
valuable corporations in the US, yet has relentlessly sued
small-time farmers across the world over alleged patent violations,
often forcing independent agriculturists to go out of business.
Legislation signed into law last month provided litigation immunity
to GMO companies including Monsanto, and on Monday the Supreme
Court sided with the corporation when ruling on a landmark
patent infringement case.
“The US Department of State is selling seeds instead of
democracy,” Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah
Hauter told reporters. “This report provides a chilling snapshot
of how a handful of giant biotechnology companies are unduly
influencing US foreign policy and undermining our diplomatic
efforts to promote security, international development and
transparency worldwide. This report is a call to action for
Americans because public policy should not be for sale to the
highest bidder.”
Food & Water Watch published their findings this week after
combing through the roughly 260,000 State Department cables that
the whistleblower website first began publishing in 2010, but notes
that their statistics specifically come from memos not classified
as “secret” or higher.
For the most part, wrote the nonprofit, “The State Department
strategy sought to foist pro-biotech
policies on foreign governments” using a four-prong
approach: promote biotech business interests; lobby foreign
governments to weaken biotech rules; protect US biotech exports and
press developing world to adopt biotech crops.
As the cables are analyzed, though, the efforts the State
Department undertook to advocate for Monsanto demonstrate a
willingness to put a US-based company’s profits about the interests
and health of those residing in foreign nations.
In a cable sent from the Slovakian consulate in 2005, the State
Department is told that the local post “will continue its
efforts to dispel myths about GMOs and advocate on behalf of
Monsanto.” In 2009, a cable out of Madrid, Spain announced that
Monsanto had made “urgent requests” to fight off an anti-GMO
opposition campaign that posed problems to the biotech industry.
Other revelations show pro-GMO efforts waged by the US on behalf of
the biotech industry in Hong Kong, the European Union, Egypt and
elsewhere.
“The State Department’s efforts impose the policy objectives
of the largest biotech seed companies on often skeptical or
resistant governments and public, and exemplifies thinly veiled
corporate diplomacy,” alleged Food & Water Watch.
When Food & Water Watch scoured those cables, they concluded
that the State Department was conducting off-the-radar negotiations
that didn’t seem to advance democracy or American ideals – instead,
rather, it found evidence of lobbying used to advance the agenda of
thriving US companies that have already purchased the approval of
much of Washington.
“It’s not surprising that Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer
and Dow want to maintain and expand their control of the $15
billion global biotech seed market, but it’s appalling that the
State Department is complicit in supporting their goals despite
public and government opposition in several countries,” Ronnie
Cummins, executive director of Organic Consumers Association, said
in the press release accompanying the report. “American
taxpayer’s money should not be spent advancing the goals of a few
giant biotech companies.”
Of the 926 State Department cables analyzed by Food & Water
Watch, the group found Monsanto appeared in more than 6 percent of
the memos, shining light on how a federal agency “worked
especially hard to promote the interests” of an outside
company.
When reached for comment by Reuters, Monsanto spokesman Tom
Helscher said, “We remain committed to sharing information so
that individuals can better understand our business and our
commitments to support farmers throughout the world as they work to
meet the agriculture demands of our world’s growing
population.” The State Department did not immediately respond
to requests for comment.
As RT reported previously, that so-called “Monsanto Protection
Act” signed into law last month was co-authored by a senator that
has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from
the company – a revelation that didn’t surprise many given that
another important figure in Washington, Justice Clarence Thomas,
served as an attorney for the corporation before he was nominated
to the high court only to eventually preside over a case involving
his former employer. But according to Food & Water Watch, the
relationship between Monsanto and the government extends beyond
Congress and the Supreme Court. In a statement published on Tuesday
to accompany their report, Food & Water Watch wrote that the
cables detail “how the US State Department lobbies foreign
governments to adopt pro-agricultural biotechnology policies and
laws, operates a rigorous public relations campaign to improve the
image of biotechnology and challenges commonsense biotechnology
safeguards and rules – including opposing genetically engineered
(GE) food labeling laws.”
This week’s report comes just one day after Justice Thomas and
the Supreme Court sided with Monsanto in reaching a decision in a
landmark patent suit. In the case, the high
court said that an Indiana farmer infringed on Monsanto’s patent
rights by using specially-made seeds he obtained second-hand
without signing a contract with the company. That ruling, however,
came just days after the company was hit with comparably bad news:
on Friday, the US Department of Agriculture ordered an extra round
of tests for new GMO breeds being developed by Monsanto and Dow,
putting on hold plans to release to the public laboratory-made
crops that can withstand heavy dousing of dangerous pesticides.
Both companies want to make available crops that are resistant to
the chemicals 2,4-D and dicamba, a move that environmentalists fear
will prompt farmers to use more of these toxins.
“The danger that 2,4-D and dicamba pose is a real threat to
crops…nearly every food crop,” Steve Smith, director of
agriculture at Red Gold, told Reuters last year.
This article originally appeared on : RT