Monsanto employees in the halls of government

  • Published on February 9th, 2011

Fox henhouse

For years, there’s been an open revolving door in Washington – sending workers from the Federal government to Monsanto and Monsanto back to the Federal government. This has a tendency to make people question the fairness and objectivity of the folks who are supposed to be overseeing the giant agricultural corporation.

Bovine growth hormone (rGBH)

When Monsanto got approval for use of its artificial bovine growth hormone in milk, the person in charge of preparing the report at Monsanto was Margaret Miller. Later, the person in charge of receiving the report and evaluating it was… Margaret Miller, by then Deputy Director of Human Safety and Consultative Services in the office overseeing the process..

Michael R Taylor, started off as a partner at the law firm that represented Monsanto on GBH issues. Then, as the FDA’s deputy commissioner for policy, he wrote the FDA’s rBGH labelling guidelines – the ones that insisted there was no difference between rGBH and regular milk. He also deleted references to problems with GMO foods, over the objection of staff scientists. Then he spent a few years working directly for Monsanto. And now? Barak Obama brought him back to the FDA to oversee Monsanto again, as his food safety issues czar!

Opening up foreign markets to GMOs

As long as Europe and other countries reject Genetically Modified (GMO) food, Monsanto has limited markets. Big Ag wanted someone who would push their issues as trade negotiator, and President Obama nominated Islam “Isi” Siddiqui, the vice president for science and regulatory affairs at at CropLife America, the U.S. agricultural/chemical industry trade group. Its members include Dow AgroSciences LLC, DuPont Crop Protection, and of course, Monsanto. Before that he was a senior trade advisor to Bill Clinton’s USDA.

GMO alfalfa

As a young lawyer, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas worked for Monsanto. When the Supreme Court ruled recently on Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa, Thomas was one of the votes in favor of his old boss. He didn’t even consider recusing himself –  although to be fair, the obvious conflict of interest probably wouldn’t have changed his vote, since Thomas would have voted the same way in favor of ANY large corporation.

GMO corn

How to get your GMO corn approved? First, Monsanto hired Linda J Fisher, who had served for 10 years as Assistant Administrator of the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances. Good person to have on your team – as your Vice President of Government and Public Affairs, heading up Monsanto’s Washington lobbying operation. And then – send her back into government, as the second in command at George W. Bush’s EPA.

And it goes on and on:

  • Roger Beachy, former director of the Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, is now Obama’s director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture – responsible for a $500 million research budget.
  • Ramona Romero, corporate counsel to Monsanto’s chief GMO rival Dupont, is Obama’s general counsel for the USDA.
  • Bush’s Secretary of Agriculture, Ann Veneman was a long-time proponent of big ag and free trade. She served on the board of directors of Calgene, one of the first companies to market GMO food (the failed Flavr Savr tomato) an affiliate of Monsanto which was later purchased by Monsanto. During the 2008 campaign when Obama was considering naming a Republican as his  Vuce President pick (to show how bi-partisan he is), Veneman was one of the choices he considered. (Note – this story has been updated to reflect the fact that at the time Ann Veneman served on the board of Calgene, it had not yet been purchased by Monsanto.)

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(Fox and Henhouse drawing by David. Image AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works Some rights reserved by Larry and Laura)

About the Author

Jeremy Bloom is the Editor of RedGreenAndBlue. He lives in New York, where he combines his passion for the environment with his passion for film, and is working on making the world a better place.

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