Vilsack - poor choice for Dept of Ag - Please sign petition

Got this on a health list I belong to fromgary gach so am passing it along:

In spite of a huge e-mail campaign from organic consumers and, in apparent contradiction to his announcement that he wants an organic garden at the White House, Obama has chosen Tom Vilsack, a strong bio-tech proponent supporting genetically engineered crops, cloned animals, etc., to run the Department of Agriculture.
Vilsack, according to The Organic Consumer's Association, was named Governor of the Year by Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the biggest
pro-genetic engineering lobby in existence.

As you will see below, Vilsack is truly Monsanto's boy. He pre-empted the local votes of towns and counties who had voted to disallow GE seeds!

Here's a youtube vid of Vilsack's history with bio-genetically engineered food.

* Vilsack was the origin of the seed pre-emption bill in 2005, which many people here in Iowa fought because it took away local government's possibility of ever having a regulation on seeds- where GE would be grown, having GE-free buffers, banning pharma corn locally, etc.

An activist from the west coast even made this youtube animation about Vilsack


The airplane in this animation is a referral to the controversy that Vilsack
often traveled in Monsanto's jet.

It's still possible to block Vilsack's confirmation with a massive support
of the petition drafted by the Organic Consumer Association. It's easy to sign on at this link:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1783

or from the Organic Consumer Association website http://www.organicconsumers.org/

Your email will be sent to your Senators and the President-Elect's office.

PLEASE POST THIS TO YOUR E-MAIL LISTS!

Thanks!

author page:
blog: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/where-buddha-meets-freud

Despite a deluge of over 100,000 emails and petition signatures from organic consumers and farmers objecting to the appointment of biotech and biofuels booster Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture, the Senate is scheduled to begin confirmation hearings for Vilsack today.

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is disappointed in this controversial appointment, and we are calling on our national network and allies to pressure Obama to move beyond "agribusiness as usual" by drafting Jim Riddle to head the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the department that oversees organic food, farming, and standards. Riddle is an organic farmer from Minnesota, former Chair of the National Organic Standards Board, and a longtime advocate for sustainable and organic farming. With Riddle heading up the AMS, farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture, transition to organic programs, and the National Organic Program will finally receive the attention, technical assistance, and funding they deserve.