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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMonsanto Given Legal Shield in a Chemical Safety Bill
WASHINGTON Facing hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits, the giant biotechnology company Monsanto last year received a legislative gift from the House of Representatives, a one-paragraph addition to a sweeping chemical safety bill that could help shield it from legal liability for a toxic chemical only it made.
Monsanto insists it did not ask for the addition. House aides deny it is a gift at all. But the provision would benefit the only manufacturer in the United States of now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls, chemicals known as PCBs, a mainstay of Monsanto sales for decades. The PCB provision is one of several sticking points that negotiators must finesse before Congress can pass a law to revamp the way thousands of chemicals are regulated in the United States.
Call me a dreamer, but I wish for a Congress that would help cities with their homeless crises instead of protecting multinational corporations that poison our environment, said Pete Holmes, the city attorney for Seattle, one of six cities suing Monsanto to help cover the costs of reducing PCB discharge from their sewers.
The House and the Senate last year both passed versions of legislation to replace the 40-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act, a law that the Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged had become so unworkable that as many as 1,000 hazardous chemicals still on sale today needed to be evaluated to see if they should be banned or restricted.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/business/monsanto-could-benefit-from-a-chemical-safety-bill.html?_r=0
revbones
(3,660 posts)So glad Hillary isn't on the take for Monsanto. Oh wait...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/17/hillary-clinton-gmo-support-monsanto-ties-spark-ba/?page=all
newfie11
(8,159 posts)America,welcome TPP.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)is because the president backs it
monicaangela
(1,508 posts)Expect more of the same: Obama chose Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State. We cannot know what deals were struck to make her stop her destructive campaigning long after it was apparent she had lost. But we do know that Mark Penn, CEO for Burson-Marsteller, one of the world's large PR firms representing Monsanto advised her for years and ran her campaign. And when she showed up again, by Obama's side, suddenly so did a man named Michael Taylor ... also again.
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=392
Hillary Clinton's connections to Monsanto go way back to the Rose Law Firm where she worked. Rose represents Monsanto, Tyson, and Walmart-the world leaders in genetic engineering, animal production and industrialized food. She received favors there, as did Bill. In office, Bill's USDA immediately and significantly weakened chicken waste and contamination standards, easing Tyson's poultry-factory expansion, and his USDA head, Espy, was indicted for bribes, money laundering, and much more, with Tyson was the largest corporate offender.
www.financialsense.com/editorials/engdahl/2006/0828.html
AxionExcel
(755 posts)"All Citizens United are equal,
but some Citizens United are more equal than others." - Republican Dick-tum
We can all glug down this news with some toxic glyphosate-tainted GMO-infested beer, while we ponder what the ugly consequences will be now that toxic glyphosate has been found in tampons.
bbgrunt
(5,281 posts)AxionExcel
(755 posts)GMO crap secretly implanted in everyone's food.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Another miraculous example of self-writing legislation! Call the Vatican.