Obama’s Agriculture Secretary supports GMO crops, big agra

Stop Vilsack’s Confirmation as Secretary of Agriculture

Organic Consumers Association
December 17, 2008

Despite a massive public outcry, including over 20,000 emails from the Organic Consumers Association, President-Elect Obama has chosen former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to be the next Secretary of Agriculture.

While Vilsack has promoted respectable policies with respect to restraining livestock monopolies, his overall record is one of aiding and abetting Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or factory farms and promoting genetically engineered crops and animal cloning. Equally troubling is Vilsack’s support for unsustainable industrial ethanol production, which has already caused global corn and grain prices to skyrocket, literally taking food off the table for a billion people in the developing world.

The Organic Consumers Association is calling on organic consumers and all concerned citizens to join our call to action and block Vilsack’s confirmation as the next Secretary of Agriculture. Please help us reach our goal of 100,000 petition signatures against Vilsack’ nomination. Sign today! Your email will be sent to your Senators and the President-Elect’s office.

CLICK HERE to sign the following petition:

We the undersigned reject President-Elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of
Agriculture, Tom Vilsack.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Over the past month, Organic Consumers Association members have sent over
20,000 emails to President-Elect Obama¹s Transition Team, calling for the
appointment of a Secretary of Agriculture who would develop and implement a
plan that promotes family-scale farming, a safe and nutritious food system
and a sustainable and organic vision for the future.

Vilsack¹s business as usual positions have included the following:

-Vilsack has been a strong supporter of genetically engineered crops,
including bio-pharmaceutical corn:

-The biggest biotechnology industry group, the Biotechnology Industry
Organization, named Vilsack Governor of the Year. He was also the founder
and former chair of the Governor’s Biotechnology Partnership.

-When Vilsack created the Iowa Values Fund, his first poster child of
economic development potential was Trans Ova and their pursuit of cloning
dairy cows.

-The undemocratic and highly unpopular 2005 seed pre-emption bill was
Vilsack’s brainchild. The law strips local government¹s right to regulate
Genetically Engineered seed.

-Vilsack is an ardent support of corn and soy-based biofuels, which use as
much or more fossil energy to produce them as they generate, while driving
up world food prices and literally starving the poor.

We pledge to continue working for a just and sustainable food and farming
system. We urge Congress and the office of the President-Elect to consider
appointing a Secretary of Agriculture that will advance a sustainable and
just future.

This article was posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 12:40 am

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