Monsanto lobbyist uses power as FDA food czar to target Amish

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Green Living | January 30, 2012

Amy Lou Jenkins

CREDO, a publication of Working Assets, today began a campaign to educate consumers and ignite outrage about a former Monsanto lobbyist and his leadership in FDA food safety.  CREDO asks:

Why is a former Monsanto lobbyist currently serving as the FDA’s food safety czar waging war on small dairy farms that produce fresh milk?

Credo asserts that the the focus of the FDA has shifted under the leadership of former Monsanto lobbyist turned government regulator.

While factory farm operators are getting away with serious food safety violations, raw milk dairy farmers and distributors across the country have been subjected to armed raids and hauled away in handcuffs.

Not surprisingly, the person responsible for prioritizing armed raids on small dairies over holding agribusiness accountable is a former Monsanto attorney and chief super lobbyist. Monsanto’s Michael Taylor is the second highest-ranking official at the FDA, and as Food Safety Czar is responsible for implementing the day-to-day policies that govern the food safety laws for the U.S.

Taylor has been leading a departmental crusade against small raw milk dairy producers. So far several dairy farmers have been subject to a year-long undercover sting operation from the East Coast to California.

No fines for factory farms with Salmonella-tainted eggs, instead the Amish are under attack  

Incredibly, Michael Taylor and FDA inspectors have not arrested or fined the Iowa agribusinessman — Jack DeCoster — who was wholly responsible for the more than 500 million eggs that were recalled in 2010 salmonella-tainted egg recall Though this industrial agribusinessman endangered the health of millions.  Michael Taylor actions show that he thinks Amish farmers producing fresh milk are more deserving targets. Under his leadership the FDA  performs enforcement raids (with guns drawn) on the Amish .

While CREDO recognizes the inherent risks that are involved in food production, they assert that the FDA’s target is misplaced under direction of Monsanto’s Michael Taylor.

“Food safety chief defends raw milk raids”, San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 2011
“Monsanto’s man Taylor returns to FDA in food-czar role”, Grist, July 8, 2009.
“DeCoster Gets Warning, Hillandale Sales OK’d”, Food Safety News, October 19, 2010.

Posted by Rusty on Feb 8 2012. Filed under Featured, NWO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry