...."The legalism of Regulation is a fatally flawed and central planning is a
total failure. If changing the outcomes of farmer decisions in these
production practices is going to
be accomplished, market-compatible strategies are going to have to be
developed."
I would agree by saying that organic farming has become a market-based
innovation that improves and protects the environment. Unfortunately it is
only practiced on a little over one million acres nationally, but is growing
at a 20% clip annually.
I would also note that the conventional market has been able to assure that
something so flimsy as regulation doesn't stand in its way.
According to the Edmonds Institute, the market and regulation are one and the
same thing:
Once again, this time in alphabetical order,we note with interest the
following changes in job assignments:
David W. Beier . . . former head of Government Affairs for Genentech, Inc.,
now chief domestic policy advisor to Al Gore, Vice-President of the United
States.
Linda J. Fisher . . . former Assistant Administrator of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Pollution Prevention,
Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, now Vice President of Government and
Public Affairs for Monsanto Corporation.
L. Val Gidings . . . former biotechnology regulator and (biosafety)
negotiator at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA/APHIS), now
Vice President for Food & Agriculture of the Biotechnology Industry
Organization (BIO)
Marcia Hale . . . former assistant to the President of the United States
and director for intergovernmental affairs, now Director of International
Government Affairs for Monsanto Corporation
Michael (Mickey) Kantor. . . former Secretary of the United States
Department of Commerce and former Trade Representative of the United
States, now member of the board of directors of Monsanto Corporation
Josh King . . . former director of production for White House events, now
director of global communication in the Washington, D.C. office of Monsanto
Corporation
Terry Medley . . . former administrator of the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture,
former chair and vice-chair of the United States Department of Agriculture
Biotechnology Council, former member of the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) food advisory committee, and now Director of
Regulatory and External Affairs of Dupont Corporation's Agricultural
Enterprise
Margaret Miller . . . former chemical laboratory supervisor for Monsanto,
now Deputy Director of Human Food Safety and Consultative Services, New
Animal Drug Evaluation Office, Center for Veterinary Medicine in the United
States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).*
William D. Ruckelshaus . . . former chief administrator of the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), now (and for the past 12
years) a member of the board of directors of Monsanto Corporation.
Michael Taylor . . . former legal advisor to the United States Food and
Drug Administration (FDA)'s Bureau of Medical Devices and Bureau of Foods,
later executive assistant to the Commissioner of the FDA, still later a
partner at the law firm of King & Spaulding where he supervised a
nine-lawyer group whose clients included Monsanto Agricultural Company,
still later Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the United States Food and
Drug Administration, and now again with the law firm of King & Spaulding.*
Lidia Watrud . . . former microbial biotechnology researcher at Monsanto
Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri, now with the United States
Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Effects Laboratory, Western
Ecology Division.
Clayton K. Yeutter . . . former Secretary of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, former U.S. Trade Representative (who led the U.S. team in
negotiating the U.S. Canada Free Trade Agreement and helped launch the
Uruguay Round of the GATT negotiations), now a member of the board of
directors of Mycogen Corporation, whose majority owner is Dow AgroSciences,
a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.
Note: We regret any continuing failure to post noteworthy changes in
employment or affiliation. We continue to sift through the many suggestions
we have received. In the belief that job opportunities are available
everywhere, we expect to expand our list to honor worthy persons throughout
the world.
We welcome corrections to our list and will be pleased to share whatever is
brought to our notice and validated.
*Margaret Miller, Michael Taylor, and Suzanne Sechen (an FDA "primary
reviewer for all rbST and other dairy drug production applications" ) were
the subjects of a U.S. General Accounting Office investigation in 1994 for
their role in FDA's approval of Posilac, Monsanto's formulation of
recombinant bovine growth hormone. The GAO Office found "no conflicting
financial interests with respect to the drug's approval" and only "one
minor deviation from now superseded FDA regulations". (Quotations are from
the 1994 GAO report)
*************************************
(c) In Montreal, the Edmonds Institute distributed several publications,
some of which are available upon request (for the "cost" of one dollar each
to cover the expense of printing and mailing). Those publications are:
"How the Terminator terminates: an explanation for the non-scientist of a
remarkable patent for killing second generation seeds of crop plants"
(revised edition), by Martha L. Crouch, Associate Professor of Biology at
Indiana University (USA) - 30 page booklet
"A Brief History of Biotechnology Risk Debates and Policies in the United
States" by Philip J. Regal, Professor, Biological Sciences, University of
Minnesota-St. Paul (USA) - 39 page booklet
"The Human Genome Diversity Project: Indigenous Communities and the
Commercialization of Science" by Brian Tokar, Institute for Social Ecology,
Plainfield, Vermont (USA) - 26 page booklet
Elisabeth Abergel (York University, Canada)'s English translation of
"Transgenic Plants and Antibiotics (Will GMOs aggravate the crucial problem
of bacterial resistance?)", an article which originally appeared in La
Recherche, volume 309, Mai 1998 - 10 pages
For more information, contact:
*****************************************
The Edmonds Institute
20319-92nd Avenue West
Edmonds, Washington 98020
USA
phone: 425-775-5383
email: beb@igc.apc.org
fax: 425-670-8410 (Please mark the fax"for Burrows".)
*****************************************
Not associated with:
Steve Sprinkel
Associate Editor, ACRES, USA
OFMA/TOGA/TXGP
Green Panthers of Bastrop County
" I think its a rigged deal"- Reno Travis
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