New Bill Aims to Block Anti-GMO Scientists from Advising EPA
A new bill aims to place restrictions on scientists with clear knowledge on GMO dangers, and create room for experts with overt financial ties to the biotech and pharmaceutical industries affected by EPA regulations. H.R. 1422, which passed 229-191, is an earthquake rumbling through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Scientific Advisory Board.
This means that the EPA would no longer be advised on their own research regarding GMOs or pharmaceutical drugs like antibiotics. The reform means industry-appointed experts will determine what is ‘safe’ and what is not safe for the public, and that the scientists with the most knowledge about the risks pertaining to GMOs and pharmaceuticals will be gagged.
As usual, is the classic political bait and switch, being touted as a means for ‘more transparency.’ But the White House, which threatened to veto the bill, said it would “negatively affect the appointment of experts and would weaken the scientific independence and integrity of the SAB.”
As the Lindsay Abrams points out:
“. . . the bill forbids scientific experts from participating in “advisory activities” that either directly or indirectly involve their own work. In case that wasn’t clear: experts would be forbidden from sharing their expertise in their own research.”
This also means that while Monsanto hides the toxicity results on RoundUp Ready GMO crops and experts call GMO testing woefully inadequate, we now have yet another layer of bureaucracy to protect Big Biotech. With all the anti-science claims made by biotech toward individuals and non-profits who claim GMOs are not safe, this is the exact pot calling the kettle black.
“In other words,” says Union of Concerned Scientists director Andrew A. Rosenberg in an editorial for RollCall, “academic scientists who know the most about a subject can’t weigh in, but experts paid by corporations who want to block regulations can.”
The bill passed the House but never made it out of committee in the Senate, and, again, would be vetoed by the President anyway.
These set-backs to good thinking are depressing. Why wait to be “informed” or not. Just don’t buy any edible item unless it says it is certified to be non-GMO.
You know science has been co-opted by corporations when this kind of absurdity is accepted and made into law.
So someone who had an interest in Monsanto that ended three to five years ago is then elible to sit on the Board overseeing Monsanto’s products, but the EPA scientists who have researched any Monsanto product are barred from being on an investigative panel or member committee ((iii) may not report directly to the Environmental Protection Agency).