3/12/04

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1.  A Turning Point In Corporate GMO Domination 
2.  Sporting Groups Oppose Administration's Wildlife Policies 
3.  Cargill Settles In Price Fixing Lawsuit 
4.  USDA Pursues Criminal Investigation in Mad Cow Disease

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1. A TURNING POINT IN CORPORATE GMO DOMINATION                  

In a historic vote yesterday,  Vermont Senators voted 28-0 Wednesday to support the Farmer Protection Act (S.164), a bill to hold biotech corporations liable for unintended contamination of conventional or organic crops by genetically engineered plant materials.  This vote, certain to send shock waves throughout the bio-tech industry, comes after 79 Vermont towns passed Town Meeting measures calling on lawmakers in the state capital to enact a moratorium on GMO's.   

This decision is yet another in the string of successful attempts by locally led citizens groups have undertaken to block the proliferation of GMO crops.  In Mendocino County, California voters recently passed a county wide moratorium against GMO's while the bio-tech industry spent a whopping $621K in an unsuccessful defense.  

Doug Mosel, a spokeperson for the Mendacino moratorium said, "Our victory... is a catalyst for counties all over the nation to protect their agriculture, food system and local economy.  This is a turning point in the corporate domination of the food system and a reclaiming of responsibility for agriculture at a local level." 

2.  SPORTING GROUPS OPPOSE ADMINISTRATION POLICIES 

According to a radio report last week on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," many hunters are increasingly upset with new federal policies they view as destructive to America's wildlife and wildlife habitat. At issue is the adverse effects of the administration's increased expansion of logging in National Forests, development of wetlands, and its push for increased coal bed methane drilling and gas development on public lands.  

The report says that a letter is currently being circulated by 500 sports groups opposing increased energy exploration in national forests. In addition, Trout Unlimited recently brought "seven angry sportsmen" to Washington to speak out against the proposed energy bill. In describing the situation, Jim Range of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership said, "It's a gut feeling...  it's a father who says, I don't have a place to take my son to hunt." Listen to the report. 

3.  USDA OPENS CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MAD COW CASE 

According to an article in the New York Times last week the federal government has begun a criminal investigation into whether records may have been falsified in the nation's first and only case of mad cow disease.  The announcement made by the Agriculture Department's inspector Phyllis Fong, said the investigation focuses on whether the animal was actually a "downer cow."  

This point has been contested as three witnesses from the slaughterhouse where the cow was processed, including the worker who killed the animal, the trucker who hauled it to the slaughterhouse and an owner of the slaughterhouse have all said publicly that it was walking.  

Wong said the investigation will also look into allegations reported in the media in early February concerning the possible alteration of official records."   

According to Wong, the investigation is in its first weeks, with officials gathering documents and interviewing witnesses. In a separate investigation, the General Accounting Office is checking the feed industry's compliance with a Food and Drug Administration's rule aimed at keeping the infectious protein blamed for the disease out of cattle feed.  

4.  CARGILL SETTLES IN PRICE FIXING LAWSUIT    

Agribusiness giant Cargill agreed on Thursday to pay $24 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it conspired with fellow agribusiness giants Archer Daniels Midland and the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company to fix prices on corn sweeteners. Despite the settlement, Cargill maintained its innocence in the suit, which was brought by food industry giants Coca-Cola Company and Pepsico. The soft drink companies' lawsuit charged that Cargill and ADM had colluded from 1988 to 1995 to fix corn syrup prices, only ended "after federal authorities charged Archer Daniels in 1995 with fixing the price of lysine, an animal feed." According to the L.A. Times, Cargil "agreed to the payment because it would cost about that much to defend itself at trial." ADM and Staley indicated that they plan to fight the suit. Read more. 

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Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org