by Debbie Coffey, Director of Wild Horse Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Reprinted from the pages of the PPJ Gazette
“If Callie Hendrickson is so worried about conservation, why didn’t she bust a gut talking about the “degraded resources for all” caused by Monsanto and the other sponsors of the NACD annual meeting?”
When representatives of Conservation Districts with ties to Monsanto attended the last Bureau of Land Management’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting, they not only pushed for the roundup of wild horses & burros, they pushed to have the wild horses & burros sold for slaughter.
Wait a minute, these organizations have the word “conservation” in their titles, don’t they? So what’s going on?
Right before the last Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting in Reno, theNational Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) had their big annual meeting in Las Vegas. The NACD meeting was sponsored by Monsanto, Bayer Crop Science, DuPont, Sygenta and Pioneer, the biggest producers of thegenetically engineered crops on the planet.
At NACD’s meeting, Monsanto sponsored a radio broadcast on Agritalk and NACD President Gene Schmidt and First Vice President Earl Garber were interviewed. (So was Rick Cole, Director of Weed Resistance for Monsanto.)
For NACD’s live auction, Monsanto donated four 30-gallon containers of Roundup Power Max.
At the NACD meeting, Callie Hendrickson, appointed by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to represent the general public (is Monsanto the general public?) on the National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board, gave a presentation. She madeunsubstantiated claims regarding wild horses & burros, including the statement that wild horses “degraded resources for all.”
If Callie is so worried about conservation, why didn’t she bust a gut talking about the “degraded resources for all” caused by Monsanto and the other sponsors of the NACD annual meeting?
Monsanto
In 1995, Monsanto ranked fifth among U.S. corporations in EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory, having discharged 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water and underground.
In Anniston, Alabama, “for nearly 40 years, while producing the now-banned industrial coolants known a PCBs at a local factory, Monsanto Co. routinely discharged toxic waste into a west Anniston creek and dumped millions of pounds of PCBs into oozing open-pit landfills.”
In Sauget (originally named Monsanto), Illinois, near the Mississippi River, the Monsanto plant was the nation’s largest producer of PCBs. Production of PCBs was banned in 1977, but they remained part of a “noxious chemical stew” at an EPA Superfund site in Sauget.
In a Post-Gazette story, Richard Karl, director of the EPA’s Superfund Division, Region 5 stated: “It’s basically a soup of different chemicals,” including PCBs, benzene, toluene, and dioxin and organic solvents. Heavy-metal pollutants include cadmium, silver, selenium and zinc. So far, the agency has spent tens of millions of dollars to clean up the area.”
Times Beach, Missouri was found in 1982 to be so thoroughly contaminated with dioxin, a by-product of PCB manufacturing, that the government ordered it evacuated. Dioxins are endocrine and immune system disruptors, cause congenital birth defects, reproductive and developmental problems, and increase the incidence of cancer, heart disease and diabetes in laboratory animals.
It seems the National Association of Conservation Districts apparently aligns itself proudly with, and has no problems taking donations from, this corporation.
What about NACD’s other sponsors?
Dupont
Was No. 4 on a Mother Jones list of the Top 20 polluters of 2010 for dumping over 5,000,000 pounds of toxic chemicals into New Jersey and Delaware waterways.
Pioneer
Is a DuPont company, and a lawsuit was filed against this company in Hawaii this year by Waimea residents. The suit claims that Pioneer has failed to control dust, and is “transporting toxic chemicals used on a daily basis and that Pioneer Hi-Bred is conducting open-air testing of genetically modified crops at its Waimea Research Center.” It claims “
fugitive airborne dust exposure from restricted-use pesticides presents unreasonable environmental risks including human health, the Waimea River, the coastline and coral reef.”
Sygenta
Was at the center of a recent class-action lawsuit because hundreds of community water systems across the United States were contaminated by the company’s atrazine weed killer. For decades, communities in at least 45 states had their water supply contaminated by atrazine and had to spend millions of dollars to filter out the poison.
Bayer Crop Science
Responsible for the contamination of the U.S. long grain rice supply in 2006 with their experimental and unapproved genetically modified Liberty Link variety that had not received approval for human consumption.
And since we’re on the subject of environmental contamination,
“has Callie written any letters protesting the 2, 4-D that the BLM is spraying, including planned spraying for the Desatoya Mountains Habitat Resiliency, Health & Restoration Project? ”
Yet, Callie and these Conservation Districts focus blame on wild horses & burros for “degrading the resources.” More inaccuracies about wild horses & burros were published in NACD’s newletter, The Resource.
Conservation Districts
There are about 3,000 conservation districts in the U.S., and since they’re established under state law, they vary in what they’re called and how they’re funded. There are elected and appointed positions on governing boards. Their partners include the Department of Interior (BLM, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish & Wildlife Service) and USDA (Forest Service, Farm Service Agency).
Considering this, keep an eye on the ball for appointed officials on various Boards of Directors, with overlapping duties, like Callie Hendrickson.
Callie is the Executive Director for the White River Conservation District in Colorado. She has also served as the Vice President of the National Association of Conservation Districts, and was a registered lobbyist in Colorado for the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts.
After the big NACD annual meeting in Las Vegas, Callie went up to Reno and took her seat for the first time on the Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board. Gary Moyer and Neil Brennan, who are on the Board of Supervisors for the White River Conservation District and work with Callie, came to this meeting. (Gary Moyer is also on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Conservation Districts and the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts). Chris Freeman was there to represent the NACD.
They all pushed for the roundup and slaughter of wild horses & burros.
The Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board, but the BLM, can claim they are listening to the public. But, there is more than just an appearance of undue influence. ThereIS undue influence. These people are on the Boards of Directors of Associationspartnering with the BLM. They have Memorandums of Understanding toSUPPORT each other’s interests. Appointed advisory boards are gaining more and more influence over land use decisions. Meanwhile, the BLM continues to turn a deaf ear to public outcry by American taxpayers and acts with impunity.
Things get a little more interesting
The White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts own and operate theUpper Colorado Environmental Plant Center in Meeker, Colorado.
Gary Moyer and Neil Brennan are on the Board of Directors.
The USDA states about this plant center “National interest in significant deposits of oil-bearing shales, the economical recovery of that oil, and the successful revegetation of the disturbed sites related to oil extraction were the primary factors leading to the establishment of the Center. The Center is located adjacent to the world’s largest known deposit of these oil bearing shales.”
So, looking at vast areas of land being drilled, there will be a big need for “revegetation” and for the reclamation of these areas in the future. The White River Conservation District buys trees to resell to producers (would this be the oil companies?) in that area. I wonder if the Conservation District will buy any trees from White River Trees in Meeker, CO, owned by Gary Moyer.
This area is also near Herd Management Areas where the BLM has been pushing, for years, to completely remove wild horses. While the BLM continues a shell game driving the extinction of wild horses & burros in the very near future, we see wolves in sheep’s clothing hiding behind the words conservation and environment.
To learn more:
“Federal Horse Rustlers and the Agenda 21 Hustle”
“Horse Meat Snake Oil Salesmen Fool Cattle Ranchers”
The BLM’s Desatoya Mountains Habitat Resiliency, Health & Restoration Project
SOURCES:
http://chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/annistonindepth/intro.asp
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/31/us-glyphosate-pollution-idUSTRE77U61720110831
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto%27s_Global_Pollution_Legacy
http://naturalsociety.com/glyphosate-causes-of-water-pollution/
http://www.naturalnews.com/033699_Roundup_pollution.html
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/epa-concerned-about-monsanto-pollution-control-damhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuPont
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_hibred
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngenta
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/last_friday_afternoon_sygenta.html
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202473655539
http://www.prweb.com/releases/personal-injury-law-firm/best-attorneys-Missouri/prweb8605142.htm
http://www.ewg.org/release/government-tests-find-roundup-widespread-water-air
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/nar1655.htm
http://www.ricefarmersclaim.com/bayer-crop-science/
http://www.prweb.com/releases/personal-injury-law-firm/best-attorneys-Missouri/prweb8605142.htm
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto%27s_Global_Pollution_Legacy
http://www.nacdnet.org/news/publications/resource/TheResource_Spring12.pdf
http://nacdnet.org/events/annualmeeting/news/tuesday_2012.phtml
http://nacdnet.org/nacdinaction/
http://www.nacdnet.org/news/publications/enotes/02-07-12.html
http://www.nacdnet.org/nacdinaction/index.phtml
http://www.whiterivercd.com/?page_id=6
http://whiterivertrees.com/about-us.php
http://www.nacdnet.org/resources/mous/
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/plantsanimals/plants/centers
http://www.nacdnet.org/about/partners/index.phtml
http://www.nacdnet.org/about/districts/
Click (HERE) to visit the PPJ Gazette and to Comment
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Callie Hendrickson has expressed frustration that the prior board has refused to discuss lethal control of the wild horses and burros. She has also called for the American people’s wild horses and burros to be made available for sale that presumably means turning them into horsemeat and glue. Callie must be VERY PROUD of her BLM constituents like Sally Spencer (BLM employee RESPONSIBLE for selling our wild Horses and burros) and her Colorado neighbor Tom Davis who has been exposed by media for buying over 1,700 of YOUR wild horses and burros and now cannot account for them…surprise, surprise.
These people work behind closed doors and make agreements to rid you and I of our Wild Horses and Burros who reside on their legally designated land which also belongs to you and me. Don’t EVER think that this land and these wild horses and burros belong to “the government” … they do not … they belong to the American people. They belong to you and me.
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Terrific article, Debbie.
BTW 2, 4- D is a carcinogen and should be banned. Unbelievable it’s still being used.
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Barbara-
EXACTLY correct although BLM uses it on OUR land – example:
http://www.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/22103/34552/35952/Desatoya_Habitat_Restoration_EA_March_2012_No_appendices.pdf
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This is beyond obscene. I was just recently on Kauai and witnessed the fields that Sygenta and Pioneer are using. They have taken a once pristine environment and polluted it. There were protests there (September)…..For the BLM and all these companies it is all about the almighty $$ . This is something to be very afraid of. I live with someone that has suffered the effects of agent orange……chemical toxicity is very real. It kills, causes cancer. But then the pharmaceutical companies (connected to Monsanto. Dupont. etc no doubt) will profit from the drugs they will use to try and counter the effects of their toxins……The US government, the BLM are no friends to us, the wild horses and burros…..how do we fight these forces of evil. Evil and greed?…..How?…..
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Thanks Deb. Ever since James Watt set a new low for environmental/wildlife disregard in the Interior Department, we have had many corporate think tanks take on the guise of environmental ‘care’. We have to realize we are ‘playing for keeps’ here and that we are losing our heritage rapidly. Americans must stand up to corporate bullies and get the elected reps, including the President, to clean house at Interior and stop the back and forth public to private career switching and the conflict of interest it creates. We have had enough.
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And clean house in the Ag dept. also… where ever it is needed
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Obviously there is a real need for a criminal investigation to delve into such accusations. Once the investigators complete their work then charges need to be filed. Jail time needs to be the result not ‘firing’ anyone or a slap on the wrist. If their position is protected by the law in any way the law needs to be overturned even if it means this has to go to the Supreme Court.
Racketeering is against the law!
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Unfortunately, this has NO chance of EVER happening. These corporate multinationals surround themselves with teams of high priced attorneys, and are never called to account or go to jail. Witness the Exxon Valdez, the BP gusher in the Gulf of Mexico 2 years ago, or the 40 years that had to elapse before the USA accepted responsibility for the tons of Agent Orange dumped on Vietnam and Cambodia that caused such horrific deformities to children born in the years since. Our government has now set up a restitution scheme that is, of course, a piddling amount for addressing the millions affected.
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I am sure we could find a few of these criminals who do not have high priced lawyers. Not all of these people are federal employees, and then some of them are pretty low on the pay scale. They either are or are not guilty of criminal acts. We have statutes on the books, and some of them aren’t being followed. I can think of a few 100 thousand people who would just love to see some of these criminals lose their pensions and spend a few years behind bars. Maybe it would do a few of these people some good to be locked up away from their families.
In this country we have laws passed by our elected officials. We do not recognize the rulings of unelected wrecking crews who call themselves conservation districts. Do these people really think that they can contaminate water and the ground in the name of conservation?
They believe in high density animal management and that means feed that is full of antibiotics, growth hormones, and grain to put fat on the animals. Theses are the people who raise abundant, cheap, food translated as the people who raise meat and vegetables full of carcinogens and neurotoxins, and they want to pretend to represent the best interests of the public Well, good luck with that.
What kind of sense does it make for governement to give us all health insurance as it feeds us poison and makes us drink contaminated water? And did i see that these people were concerned about climate change? Hello. Since the beginning of the Earth we have ice ages followed by warming periods followed by ice ageas again and again for millions of years.
The best species on the planet to observe for how it adapts and survives is the horse. The horse has survived for over 55 million years, yet these impostors want to destroy the most adaptive animal on the planet. In a lecture by an equine specialist from NCSU, our class learned that scientists (not Callie and her conservation crew) now believe that the horse is so finely tuned to its environment that the thickness of a foals coat at birth will reflect the weather on the day it is born. For example, if the foal is born on a cold, rainy day, the foal will have a heavier coat than it would were it born on a warm sunny day. Isn’t that amazing!` Isn’t this a species that should be preserved and studied.
Look at all the variations in climate and topography across the West from Arizona to Oregon. So much valuable research to do without harming the horses or interfering with them. All you need is to protect their homes in the wild and watch what they do. Man’s survival may depend on it.
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To our friends and colleagues at the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting tomorrow and Tuesday; Give them hell and do not spare Callie Hendrickson one bit!
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GOOD GOD!!!!!
Excellent work Debbie.
And our lands and resources plus wildlife continue to be raped…..with Congressional funding and permission, no less.
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there seems to be much going on behind closed doors here…..big money of course, giant companies who could care less what they do to the land or the life that lives on it, people paid to protect but sell out, lies and more lies with a few half truths thrown in here and there and I suspect a few slick businessmen pulling all the strings behind the curtains. Just the mention of DuPont, Monsanto and wild horses and burros in the same article makes my hair stand on end. Hope someone who’s on the right side, and the right side is: forever protection for the horses and burros, will strap some balls on and stand up to these sharks. These fat companies do not have the right to kill off our horses and burros or to destroy our land and water….ever.
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Which is exactly the problem with these Presidential Executive Orders that by-pass our local, state, and even federal legislative branches of government. We are being governed by members of the private sector, non-governmental organizations, foundations, and community groups pre-vetted and appointed to presume to represent their regions. This is a systematic corrumption of our democratic process.
I am with Steve and Barb. We might not be able to sue the President of Monsanto, or even Ken Salazar, but what about Callie Hendrickson or someone else who forgets that we actually have a certain set of laws that have been enacted by Congress and signed by the President that govern our nation. These people are common criminals, and I am all for holding them accountable. So what if it takes millions to sue the government, it won’t take as much to put away a few of their minions. They are breaking our laws and they are not elected by us. Heck, no one elected Secretary Salazar, so I don’tlike the idea that he can then appoint a Iwanttokillhorses person to the advisory board, when 80% of the public opposes the slaughter of horses, there is a very hollow ring to her appointment.
Of course, as Dave Phillips was so kind to point out Tom Davis lives just down the road from our horse loving Secretary of Interior. Callie Hendrickson in this same neighborhood? John Salazar wishing Tom Davis good luck with his plans to open a horse slaughter plant. Tom Davis was a hand on Salazar’s family farm as a child…Somehow he gets access the 1,700 wild horses.
Maybe tomorrow will be the last meeting this WHB ever holds. Let us pray that someone puts America out of its misery and finds a way to go forward without this incompetent, willfully scientifically ignorant, fiscally dishonest, unaccountable, corrupt organization. They seem to manage to destroy everything they touch. We can’t afford to keep paying this group to destroy our land, water, horses, wildlife, natural resources. Get rid of them and don’t resurrect this group of back slappin’ cowboys whose development ended in the 1940’s.
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Those wild horses and the land they are on belong to the American People!
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Monsanto: THE BAD SEED – New Frontier
http://www.newfrontier.com/asheville/bad_seed.htm
For decades, the Monsanto Corporation of St. Louis has been slowly dominating the world’s supply of seed for staple crops (corn, soybeans, potatoes) — a business plan that Monsanto’s critics say is nothing short of diabolical. Monsanto says it is just devilishly good business.
Monsanto has spent over $30 billion in recent years buying numerous U.S. seed companies. As a result, two firms, Monsanto and Pioneer (recently purchased by DuPont), now control the U.S. seed business. Monsanto specializes in genetically modified seeds — seeds having particular properties that Monsanto has patented.
The U.S. government is very enthusiastic about these new technologies. From the viewpoint of U.S. foreign policy, genetically modified seeds offer a key advantage over traditional seeds: because genetically modified seeds are patented, it is illegal for a farmer to retain seed from this year’s crop to plant next year.
To use these patented seeds, farmers must buy new seeds from Monsanto every year. Thus, a farmer who adopts genetically modified seeds and fails to retain a stock of traditional seeds could become dependent upon a transnational corporation
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http://organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm
Monsanto Continues to Refuse Compensation to
Veterans and Families for Exposure to Agent Orange
The negative health effects, due to exposure to Monsanto’s Agent Orange, have been well documented over the past three decades. The dioxin in Agent Orange has been accepted internationally as one of the most toxic chemicals on the planet, causing everything from severe birth defects, to cancer, to neurological disorders, to death. But Monsanto has successfully blocked any major movement towards compensating veterans and civilians who were exposed to the company’s Agent Orange.
Long before Agent Orange was used as a herbicide in the Vietnam war, Monsanto knew of its negative health impacts on humans. Since then, Monsanto has been unsuccessful at covering its tracks and has even been convicted of fabricating false research documentation that claims Agent Orange has no negative health effects, other than a possible skin rash. Thanks to Monsanto’s influence, the Center for Disease Control also released a report claiming veterans were never exposed to harmful levels of Agent Orange.
As a note, from 1962 to 1970, the US military sprayed 72 million liters of herbicides, mostly Agent Orange, on over one million Vietnamese civilians and over 100,000 U.S. troops. As a result, within ten years of the close of the war, 9170 veterans had filed claims for disabilities caused by Agent Orange. The VA denied compensation to 7709, saying that a facial rash was the only disease associated with exposure.
In 2002, Vietnam requested assistance in dealing with the tens of thousands of birth defects due to Agent Orange. In order to avoid medical compensation expenses, Monsanto continues to claim this now banned chemical is not toxic. (Read more..)
A couple of organizations working specifically on the Agent Orange issue among those affected in Vietnam and the US are Project Agent Orange and Agent Orange Legacy, among many others.
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All cancer is man made. Monsanto’s own internal memos from the 30’s when they first realized the effects of PCB’s were warned by their own scientists of the devastating effects. “What will we tell our grandchildren” Reply from Monsanto’s CEO’s “What will you tell them if your broke?” Dioxin has been verified as the #1 cause of cancer in the world. But even though corporations are people they don’t get it, do they?
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First our food supply and now our horses!
Empower yourself: Read labels, make decisions, deny evil corporations your business
If you really want a wild ride into history, check out the factual history of Bayer, whose chairman was convicted of Nazi war crimes. This is a company steeped in a history of anti-human activities, many of which continue to this day.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/037681_Monsanto_DuPont_evil_corporations.html#ixzz2AJj2ZaMB
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Money, corruption, good ole’ boy networks. And this is just in the BLM. This spells doom and gloom for our wild horses unless the president steps in. Fat chance if Romney gets elected since he wants to turn all public lands over to the states. Possibly more if Obama is elected, since he may respond to public pressure more.
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This is outrageous! What can we do?
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Monsanto is also killing sheep in Idaho http://greateryellowstone.org/issues/lands/Feature.php?id=287
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Kleptocracy. Second Amendment.
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:You have exposed the ugliness that goes on among our government officials in cahoots with the big company minions, Debbie. And you are so right to expose how they use the wild horses and burros as scapegoats for their own wrong doings. This situation is so utterly disgusting. We must stand up and change all this ugliness and murder of Mother Earth. We humans must be willing to make the needed sacrifices to become independent of these ugly monsters, by not buying their products, by not eating their products, by living in a way that is part of the solution and not part of the problem. The expose about roundup and agent orange being used on public lands is right to the point of this hypocrisy. The wild horses heal the land, but their enemies do all the opposite. Remember this and vow to change all this disgusting power structure that depends on human idiocy for its perpetuation!
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States have been trying for years to force these companies that grow crops using GMO seeds to label all products that are grown with these seeds so the consumer knows what they are buying to no avail. The corporations bring in their big guns and whatever bill the voters are asked to support is killed either before or after it is passed it is taken to court and the paid off judges claim it’s not constitutional or some other excuse is used. This is why organic produce has become so popular. I have also read articles claiming that any food item labelled organic is just as good nutritionally as the common produce that is not raised organically. I have a good idea that all of the canned vegies and other food that are packed and sold in the US are grown from GMO seeds.
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Gary Moyer, representing the National Association of Conservation Districts commented again at today’s Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting in Salt Lake City. So did Gordon Younter of the Utah Association of Conservation Districts, Matt Scott of Callie Hendrickson’s White River/Douglas Creek Conservation Districts.
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I missed some of the meeting when I had to go throw up … but I did hear Gary Moyer tell the committee to read the 1971 WH&B act … because they were not following it and what I understood from his meaning was that all WH&B need to be gotten rid of (killed/destroyed). That is apparently what HE thinks the act states.
When I read the 1971 act … I read that they shall not be harassed or branded or killed and THAT part of the act has not been amended!
What I heard between the lines when Matt Scott spoke was very clear … kill all the WH&B.
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From PEER –
For Immediate Release: Oct 24, 2012
Contact: Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337
JUDGE HALTS GE CROPS ON SOUTHEASTERN WILDLIFE REFUGES
Separate Ruling Leaves Door Ajar for GE Crops on Midwestern Refuges for Now
http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/ruling-against-ge-crops-on-southeastern-wildlife-refuges.html
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The links lead to more links … on and on!
From PEER in February –
For Immediate Release: Feb 17, 2012
Contact: Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337
WHITE HOUSE SHIELDS INDUSTRY STRATEGY MEMO ON GE CROPS
White House Refuses to Reveal Scope of Partnership with Monsanto and Cohorts
http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2012/02/17/white-house-shields-industry-strategy-memo-on-ge-crops/
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