from East Bay News CA: Pres. Obama has appointed pesticide and biotechnology lobbyist Islam Siddiqui as the U.S. chief negotiator on agriculture in the U.S. Trade Representative's office. Below is a sample letter that you can use or adapt and send to the president at whitehouse.gov asking him to rescind this appointment, thanks to a member of the STSEB steering committee who drafted it today. Warm wishes and thank you for your support,Nan
Dear President Obama, I am writing to ask you to revoke the appointment of Islam Siddiqui as chief negotiator on agriculture in the U.S. Trade Representative's office. I am deeply disappointed that you appointed Dr. Siddiqui even though the nomination was opposed by the Center for Biological Diversity and more than 80 other environmental, small-farm, and consumer groups, even though more than 90,000 concerned citizens contacted the White House and Senate to oppose the nomination....and even though Siddiqui is a former pesticide lobbyist and is currently vice president of science and regulatory affairs at CropLife America, a biotech and pesticide trade group that lobbies to weaken environmental laws. As an activist who spent many months opposing (and subsequently helping to stall) a program in the San Francisco Bay area to aerially spray pesticides over not only agricultural areas, but populated areas as well - meaning parks, schoolyards and residential neighborhoods - I can only say this is a major step backwards in our efforts to clean up the environment, ensure a safe food source and tend to the health of the public as well as wildlife. After such a tremendous victory last week with the health care bill (congratulations!), to have people in your cabinet that are pro pesticides and pro-GMO (USDA Secretary Vilsack) leaves me scratching my head. I'm sure you're aware that CropLife lobbies to weaken the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, claiming that pesticides are not pollutants because of their intended beneficial effect and that pesticides positively impact endangered species. And that they have also lobbied to allow pesticides to be tested on children and to allow the continued use of persistent organic pollutants and ozone-depleting chemicals. Are you also aware that they launched a petition asking your wife Michelle to use pesticides in the organic White House garden and fought county initiatives in California banning genetically modified foods? I hope you will revoke this appointment and the repercussions it may bring. With kind regards, _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/210850552/direct/01/
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