Stop the Secret Trade Deals: the Monsanto Protection Act on Steroids!
If you thought the Monsanto Protection Act was bad, the secret trade deals called the TPP and TAFTA are a global nightmare. Right now two secret trade agreements, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA), also called the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), are being negotiated behind closed doors like this spring when the Monsanto Protection Act was passed.
Just as we are on the verge of winning GMO labeling in the US, these secret negotiations could eliminate the ability of countries around the world to label GMOs or impose common sense restrictions on the sale of genetically engineered seed and food in their countries if Monsanto and other biotech companies get their way. They could also make it illegal to label GMOs in the U.S., placing the decision in the hands of corporate lobbyists and Monsanto GMO stooges.
Demand an end to secret trade deals, stop the fast track of TAFTA and the TPP. Stand with Food Democracy Now! – don’t let corporations pass the Global Monsanto Protection Act!
The real problem is that these secret “free” trade agreements are an end run around our democracy, replacing critical civil rights, labor and environmental protections with permanent corporate privilege and profits.
According to a recent op-ed in The New York Times, the TPP would set new rules for everything “from food safety and financial markets to medicine prices and Internet freedom.” Even after 17 rounds of negotiations, the level of secrecy regarding the draft proposals of the TPP has been called “unprecedented”.
Right now, Monsanto and more than 600 other multinational corporations and industry front groups are working hand in glove with the Obama administration to draft secret global trade agreements that will undermine the democratic rule of law and place our legal protections in the hands of shady corporate lobbyists.
Even worse, a biotech and pesticide industry lobbyist that once represented Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta and other biotech giants is working as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the U.S. government.
Right now corporate lobbyists are trying to quietly sneak the agreement through Congress without proper review so they’re pushing to Fast Track the trade agreement to literally shove the TPP through Congress. Unfortunately, Fast Track takes away Congress’ constitutional authority over trade and allows the president to take over.
If ratified, the TPP would impose punishing restrictions on local democracy, giving multinational corporations like Monsanto and the biotech industry the unprecedented right to demand taxpayer compensation for policies that corporations deem a barrier to their profits – like GMO labeling and bans on these crops at the national, state or local level.
Say goodbye to decades of hard-fought protections against Monsanto’s corrupt corporate power! We need your help to get the word out and make sure that Congress and President Obama know we’re watching them. It’s time to stop Monsanto and the corporate power grab!
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