Tea Party Patriots Criticize 'Monsanto Protection Act'

Tea Party Patriots Criticize 'Monsanto Protection Act'

The so called "Monsanto Protection Act," a controversial provision protecting the biotech giant from litigation, has found an unusual critic in the tea party.

The provision, Section 735, was slipped anonymously into the Senate version of the continuing resolution as part of the Agricultural Appropriations Bill, subsequently passed by the House and signed into law by President Barack Obama late last month.

Since then it's ignited an advocacy firestorm, with 250,000 people signing a petition opposing the provision and Food Democracy Now network organizing a protest at the White House last week. Critics including members of the tea party have expressed dismay, not only at the provision's contents, but at the secretive way in which the biotech rider was introduced.

"It is not the purview of Tea Party Patriots to comment on the merits of GMOs that is a discussion and debate for experts Michael Crabtree Jersey and activists within that field," wrote Dustin Siggins, who blogs for Tea Party Patriots, on the group's website. "From the perspective of citizens who want open, transparent government that serves the people, however, the so called 'Monsanto Protection Act,' Section 735 of the Continuing Resolution, is one heck of a special interest loophole for friends of Congress."

The Center for Food Safety is placing blame for the measure's covert introduction with the Senate Appropriations Committee and its chairman, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D Md.). "While there are no definite fingerprints for whoever is responsible for the rider, the earmark was allowed under the direction of Senator Barbara Mikulski," the center wrote on its website.

Last week, Mikulski's office issued a statement distancing the senator from http://www.official49ersnflproshop.com/Nike-Aldon-Smith-Jersey.html the provision. "Senator Mikulski understands the anger over this provision. She didn't put the language in the bill and doesn't support it either," the statement reads. "As Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Mikulski's first responsibility was to prevent a government shutdown. That meant she had to compromise on many of her own priorities to get a bill through the Senate that the House would pass. "

The provision's impact is unclear, since the underlying spending bill expires Sept. 30. Siggins argues in his lengthy Tea Party Patriots post analyzing the issue that it sets a "dangerous precedent." He concludes:

This all can be boiled down into a single, common phrase: a special interest loophole, and a doozy at that. We are used to subsidies, which give your tax dollars to companies to give them advantages over competitors. We are used to special interest tax loopholes and tax credits, which provide competitive and financial benefits to those with friends in Congress. And we are familiar with regulatory burden increases, which often prevent smaller companies from competing against larger ones Frank Gore Womens Jersey because of the cost of compliance.

However, this is a different kind of special interest giveaway altogether. This is a situation in which a company is given the ability to ignore court orders, in what boils down to a deregulation scheme for a particular set of industries.

A picture taken on October 9, 2008 shows an ultralight helicopter hovering above a field where Greenpeace activists and Austrian organic farming association BIO AUSTRIA wrote the message 'NO GMO' (Genetically Modified Organism) by planting light green coloured organic buckwheat in a field of organic peas in Breitenfurt, some 60 kms south east from Vienna. (DIETER NAGL/AFP/Getty Images)

Thirty five tons of corn put by Greenpace activists at Mexico City's Zocalo Square as Frank Gore Jersey a protest against the sowing of transgenic corn, form a map of Mexico on February 26, 2009. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

People walk on a plateform past an advert against genetically modified (GMO) food on February 15, 2011 at a subway station in Paris. (MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

Greenpeace activists demonstrate against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on November 24, 2008 in front of EU headquarters in Brussels. (DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

Greenpeace activists stand a protest in front of Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City against the farming of transgenic corn in Mexico, on June 26, 2009. (JOEDSON ALVES/AFP/Getty Images)

The logo of French 'Les faucheurs volontaires' (Volunteer trimmers of GMO) is seen as Michael Crabtree Red Jersey demonstrators stand in front of the booth of French union 'la confederation paysanne' (farmers union) during an action against GMO at the International Agricultural Fair on March 6, 2010 in Paris. The issue of so called 'frankenfoods' has long been a matter of fierce debate in Europe and the commission stressed that the Amflora potato in question would be able to be grown only for 'industrial use' including animal feed, rather than for human consumption. (BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP/Getty Images)

A giant banner depicting a farm, is seen as Greenpeace activists hold banners to protest against the genetically modified (GMO) food production in front of the parliament building of Budapest on February 10, 2010. (ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images)

A grey cow is pictured near Greenpeace activists in traditional Hungarian costume standing in front of a giant banner depicting a farm as others hold a banner reading 'GMO free Europe' to protest against the genetically modified (GMO) food production in front of the parliament building of Budapest on February 10, 2011 during a demonstration. (ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images)

Greenpeace activists hold a banner to protest against the genetically modified (GMO) food production in front of the parliament building of Budapest on February 10, 2010. (ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images)

A man dressed up as a bee holds a placard during a demonstration organized by French Professional Beekeepers Federation (FFAP) to protest against the use of pesticide on September 14, 2011 along the Saint Bernard quay in Paris. (JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images)

Anti Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) demonstrators protest in front of Colmar courthouse on September 28, 2011, eastern France, during the trial of 60 militants accused of destroying MGO plants. (FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images)

An anti GMO activist holds a banner reading 'Science without conscience is but the ruin official49ersnflproshop.com/Nike-Anthony-Davis-Jersey.html of soul' during an action to call for the ban of the 'MON 810', a variety of genetically modified maize (corn) developed by Monsanto Company on January 23, 2012 at a Monsanto storehouse in Trebes near Carcassonne, southern France. (ERIC CABANIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Is Branding Food With "GMO" the Kiss of Death?Prop 37 in California proposes that genetically modified food be labeled "GMO". If you knew your food was genetically modified, would you still eat it?