"We blew it" on global food, says Bill Clinton
Sat, 2008-10-25 06:00
#1
"We blew it" on global food, says Bill Clinton
Sat, 2008-10-25 06:00
#2
[url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hsB8rqT7wzMOWDPbGzghrKm0PFmgD940EN200... I should be more informed on this topic - I'm not sure what to think about this. Opinions?
quote:
Former President Clinton told a U.N. gathering Thursday that the global food crisis shows "we all blew it, including me," by treating food crops "like color TVs" instead of as a vital commodity for the world's poor.Addressing a high-level event marking Oct. 16's World Food Day, Clinton also saluted President Bush — "one thing he got right" — for pushing to change U.S. food aid policy. He scolded the bipartisan coalition in Congress that killed the idea of making some aid donations in cash rather than in food.
Clinton criticized decades of policymaking by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and others, encouraged by the U.S., that pressured Africans in particular into dropping government subsidies for fertilizer, improved seed and other farm inputs as a requirement to get aid. Africa's food self-sufficiency declined and food imports rose.
Now skyrocketing prices in the international grain trade — on average more than doubling between 2006 and early 2008 — have pushed many in poor countries deeper into poverty.
This in particular makes me go hmm:
quote:
He noted that food aid from wealthy nations could itself be a tool for bolstering agriculture in poor countries. Canada, for example, requires that 50 percent of its aid go as cash — not as Canadian grain — to buy crops grown locally in Africa and other recipient countries.U.S. law, however, requires that almost all U.S. aid be American-grown food, which benefits U.S. farmers but undercuts local food crops. Bush proposed earlier this year that 25 percent of future U.S. aid be given in cash.
"A bipartisan coalition (in Congress) defeated him," Clinton said. "He was right and both parties that defeated him were wrong."
Sat, 2008-10-25 07:03
#3
Frustrated Mess
quote:
Former President Clinton called upon the biotechnology industry to work to reduce the spread of a variety of diseases, including infectious diseases, guard against pandemics, create genetically engineered foods that will feed more of the world’s hungry, tap into sources of renewable energy, and confront global warming head on.[url=http://www.gmofoodforthought.com/2006/04/president_clinton_says_biotech....
quote:
Countries facing famine in southern Africa should accept genetically modified (GMO) food or risk death for millions of its people, a top U.S. official has said.A severe food crisis threatens 13 million people in the six countries in the region—with Malawi and Zimbabwe the worst hit. The U.N. has appealed for a million tonnes of food, and traditionally half of the donation comes from America.
[url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/235.html]http://www.hartford-hwp...
quote:
What did Bill do?1. Bill's put Monsanto people in at the FDA, as US Agricultural Trade
Representatives, on International Biotechnology Consultive Forums,
and more ... or [url=http://www.monitor.net/monitor/9904b/monsantofda.html]http://www.monitor... or [url=http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Revolving-Door.htm]http://www.mindfully.org/...2. Bill's FDA gave Monsanto permission to market rBGH (a GE bovine
growth hormone), the first genetically engineered product let loose
on us (or did tomatoes with fish DNA get there first?).3. Despite reports of bovine illness and death, Bill's FDA did not
recall it or put warnings on it. Even "a very angry, very vocal
nationwide consumer base" had no impact. "4. Bill's FDA wouldn't even label rBGH as "present" in milk.
5. When dairy farmers tried to label their own milk rBGH-free so the
public could choose, Bill's USDA threatened all dairies that their
products could be confiscated from stores. Michael Taylor, USFDA
Deputy Commissioner, was formerly Monsanto's counsel.6. How were consumers to protect their family, given Bill's FDA
enforced public blindness, except to buy only organic? But Bill's FDA
tried to close off that last escape, proposing to include
in "organic" standards, "the dirty three" a : genetic engineering of
plants and animals, use of irradiation in food processing and use of
municipal sewage sludge as a fertilizer. (My emphasis.) The FDA
backed down.Had this gone through, Monsanto could have finally labeled rBGH
milk ... as "organic." And animal waste from factory farms, a
pollution nightmare for Tyson and others, could have been sold as
fertilizer.[url=http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/626639]http://www.care2.com/c2c/sh...
Clinton's solutions for food security in Africa is further slavery and insecurity.