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Monsanto Takes GM Food Fight to Supreme Court

  • Spence Cooper
  • May 19, 2010
The current United States Supreme Court, the h...
Could they be in with Monsanto?

When it comes to corporate influence over government and politicians, I don’t believe in coincidences. As we now all know, not only has the US government been slow in pressing BP to release data so the government and public can evaluate the extent of the crisis in the Gulf, the Mineral Management Service at the Interior Department, the agency responsible for inspecting the Deepwater Horizon rig, failed in its duty to inspect the operation, and even issued Deepwater an industry model for safety award before the rig blew sky-high.

Needless to say, there is no government oversight on behalf of the public safety — it exists in name only and begins or ends with bloated official words like “Bureau”, “Agency”, “Office”, or “Administration”. Like it or not, corporations run the show; all the other players are simply bit actors and hired stage hands.

Corporations dictate Washington policy, either with bribes peddled to senators by powerful lobbyists, or with the proverbial revolving door appointments between big business and government, where civil servants go to work for companies they used to regulate, then spin around and go back to work for the government to twist public policy in favor of their former corporate employer, then back again to serve on corporate boards.

Alfalfa at the center of the controversyNow Monsanto wants the nation’s highest court to reverse a 2007 California US District Court ruling that the USDA illegally approved Monsanto’s GE alfalfa without carrying out a full Environmental Impact Statement. The ruling was upheld in 2009 by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which placed a nationwide ban on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa.

Why am I not surprised to learn that one of the Justices to hear the Supreme Court case is none other than Justice Clarence Thomas, who once worked for Monsanto. The revolving door just keeps on spinning. Where it stops, nobody knows.

In fact, “not only did Thomas work as an attorney for the Monsanto Co. in the late 1970s, he also penned the majority decision in a 2001 case that paved the way for companies like Monsanto to patent seeds. That same year he received the Francis Boyer Award established by chemical and pharmaceutical giant SmithKline Beecham, now known as GlaxoSmithKline.” Despite this, Thomas sees no reason to recuse himself from the case.

Monsanto issued this statement: “Clarence Thomas worked for Monsanto for a few years but has not been employed by Monsanto since the 1970s, long before the company was involved in biotechnology or owned a seed business. While Justice Thomas indeed wrote the majority opinion, this was a 6-2 decision. Justice Thomas was joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist, and Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Souter and Ginsberg” none of whom have or had any association with Monsanto. Justices Breyer and Stevens dissented, and Justice O’Connor did not participate in the decision”

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