Mother Jones: Obama’s Pesticide-Pushing Nominee

TAKE ACTION: Stop Siddiqui!

When
Michelle Obama announced plans to plant an organic garden at the White
House, nearly everybody thought it was a great idea. Everybody except
for the pesticide industry. Representatives from a branch of the
industry’s main trade association, CropLife America (CLA), wrote
to the First Lady asking her to respect the role of “conventional
agriculture;” they added in a separate note to supporters that the
thought of the White House’s chemical-free vegetables made them
“shudder.” But the public swipe at the president’s wife didn’t stop the
administration from nominating senior CLA executive Islam “Isi” Siddiqui
to a key post: chief agricultural negotiator for the office of the US
Trade Representative (USTR). If confirmed, Siddiqui will be responsible
for, among other things, negotiating international agreements governing
the use of pesticides.

CLA is the American branch of CropLife International, a powerful
global lobby; its members include agriculture giants such as Dow
AgroSciences, Monsanto, and DuPont. Siddiqui joined the CLA in 2001 as
a registered lobbyist, and since 2003 has served as its vice president
of science and regulatory affairs. In that position, he’s played a
critical role in setting CLA’s domestic and international agenda.

Chiding Michelle Obama for not using
“crop protection products” in her garden is one of the milder tactics
CLA has deployed in service of its cause. During Siddiqui’s tenure at
the organization, it has lobbied aggressively to weaken domestic and
international regulations on pesticides and other agricultural
chemicals.

In 2005, the group participated in secret talks
with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management
and Budget on permitting pesticide testing on children. In 2006,
CropLife America helped secure an exemption for American farmers for a worldwide ban on methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting pesticide. It has also actively worked to remove
what it terms “trade irritants” on pesticides under NAFTA. In its 2008
annual report, CLA highlighted its “relentless” efforts to persuade
negotiators to cut language “discriminatory to pesticides” from the
2008 Farm Bill. Meanwhile, its parent organization has fought to
eliminate all tariffs on pesticides in World Trade Organization trade negotiations.

After the nomination was announced, more than 80
organizations—including environmental groups and organic and local farm
interests—wrote to the Senate Finance Committee in protest. “The Obama
administration has said they’re not going to put lobbyists in these
roles in government, and [Siddiqui] was a lobbyist, he worked for
industry,” explained Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist working on
food and environmental issues at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“The question is whether he can take a scientific, unbiased perspective
on what works and doesn’t work, rather than a trade agenda that
primarily [supports] large US companies and the technologies they
prefer.”

While running for president, Obama promised Iowa voters that Big Ag
would not call the shots on his administration’s farm policy. “We’ll
tell ConAgra that it’s not the Department of Agribusiness,” he
proclaimed. Yet agribusiness seems pretty satisfied with Siddiqui’s
nomination—more than 40 companies and trade groups signed a letter
applauding it.

Siddiqui is a textbook example of the type of revolving door
careerist that Obama promised to shun for key administration posts.
Before joining CropLife, he held several jobs
in Bill Clinton’s Department of Agriculture, including senior
agricultural trade adviser and undersecretary for marketing and
regulatory programs. During that period, he advocated against efforts to label genetically modified foods.

Following Siddiqui’s nomination earlier this year, the White House
credited him for having led “the first phase of development for
national organic natural food standards in the United States.” What
press officials didn’t mention was that those standards received a
barrage of criticism upon their release in 1998. As

Mother Jones reported at the time,
the first version of the rules “not only included the use of
genetically engineered products but also allowed for irradiation and
fertilization with sewage sludge—which
can contain metals and toxic chemicals.” In December 2000, after
receiving more than 300,000 public comments, the Department of
Agriculture strengthened the rules.

At his November 4 confirmation hearing, Siddiqui faced few tough
questions from the finance committee. Only Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
asked for Siddiqui’s views on sustainable agricultural practices and
about his background working for the petrochemical industry. The
nominee’s response was vague. “I am a true believer in all processes,
systems, whether using conventional means or organic, and I will do my
best in terms of representing all these interests in promoting
agriculture exports of both organic as well as conventionally grown
products,” he said.

The committee is expected to approve Siddiqui’s nomination sometime
this month. And critics aren’t optimistic that he’ll live up to his
word and give sustainable agriculture a fair shake. “Given his
background,” said Gurian-Sherman, “we think he’s going to continue to
push the industrial agriculture agenda he’s been involved with for the
past years.”