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Ex-Monsanto Lobbyist to "Represent" US Consumers in EU Biotech Talks

White House Appoints Former Monsanto Lobbyist Carol Tucker Foreman to
"Represent" US Consumers in EU Biotech Negotiations

The article below appears in PR Watch Volume 7 Number 3, now on the web at:
http://www.prwatch.org/prw_issues/2000-Q2/index.html

Will CFA Save GM Foods?

Democratic party heavyweight Carol Tucker Foreman has left her lucrative
job as a lobbyist and returned to the Consumer Federation of America (CFA)
as director of its newly formed Food Policy Institute. Foreman was CFA's
executive director before joining the Carter administration and then
becoming an insider lobbyist for clients including Philip Morris, Monsanto
(the maker of genetically engineered bovine growth hormone), Procter &
Gamble (maker of the fake fat Olestra), and other giants in the drug and
insurance industry.

CFA takes money from unions and corporations, and Foreman's return signals
a new direction as it seeks to become a major player in biotechnology
issues with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. In April its National
Food Policy Conference 2000 was sponsored by the American Feed Industry
Association and the Olsson, Frank & Weeda law firm, both of which have been
driving forces behind the passage of "food disparagement" laws that gut
free speech rights on food safety controversies. Other agribusiness funders
of CFA's conference included the International Food Information Council
(IFIC), the National Food Processors Association, Kraft, Procter & Gamble,
Archer Daniels Midland, General Mills, IBP, Safeway, International Dairy
Foods Association and many more companies .

In May the White House appointed Foreman the sole "consumer advocate" on an
international committee to reconcile the severe differences between the US
and the rest of the world on the issue of genetically modified foods. This
has outraged U.S. critics of GM foods including Greenpeace, the Center for
Food Safety, Friends of the Earth, the Organic Consumers Association and
Public Citizen. They have called on the White House to revoke her
appointment, "given her close ties to industry."