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Islam A Siddiqui 
Tue Mar 30, 2010 at 11:59:01 AM PDT
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Pesticide Action Network has released a statement on the recess appointment of Isi Siddiqui, a biotech and pesticide lobbyist who Obama nominated and now appointed as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator. As the statement points out, his nomination was met with massive opposition from the American people as well as an extensive list of over 100 organizations.
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Thu Mar 11, 2010 at 12:39:28 PM PST
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For months now, Sen. Jim Bunning's had a hold on the confirmation of pesticide/biotech lobbyist Islam A. Siddiqui as America's Chief Agricultural Negotiator. Now we know why. This is hilarious, only it isn't really.
According to Congressional Quarterly, Bunning wants the U.S. Trade Rep Ron Kirk to stand up for tobacco. Yes, that's right. Canada has banned candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes (note that is candy-flavored real cigarettes, not candy cigarettes) as they are seen to encourage young people to smoke. Bunning's upset because Canada's ban also applies to "regular cigarettes blended with flavoring ingredients to mask the harsh taste of burley tobacco." And which state is the largest producer of burley tobacco? Kentucky! The home state of Sen. Bunning.
Bunning wants Kirk to file a WTO complaint against Canada for this, which Kirk won't do. For that, Bunning is holding up any nominee that will work for Kirk, including Siddiqui.
In this case, I think it would be hard for me to agree that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I certainly don't want Siddiqui and his pro-pesticide/biotech views in our government, and I'm both thrilled and amused that Bunning's the one keeping him out (at least temporarily). But how unbelievable that in 2010, a U.S. Senator would be taking such an action because he wants to promote tobacco!!!!
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Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 15:28:45 PM PST
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Over 100 groups are now urging the Senate to reject the nomination of top pesticide/biotech lobbyist Islam A. Siddiqui as Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The Senate could, in all likelihood, gather the votes to confirm him and yet - they haven't. One thing is holding him back, and that one thing is Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning. Bunning, who is famous for erratic and seemingly irrational behavior (like his one man stand against extending unemployment benefits this past week), is blocking Siddiqui's confirmation. My hunch is that it's a matter of time before he gives in and Siddiqui gets confirmed, but in the meantime, groups opposed to Siddiqui are using the extra time to express their utter horror at the thought of a CropLife lobbyist as a top U.S. official.
Below, find some fact sheets and info from Pesticide Action Network about Siddiqui and why the Senate should reject him.
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Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 06:00:00 AM PST
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This excellent response to Vilsack's recent op ed in the Des Moines Register and Obama's State of the Union is cross-posted from Civil Eats with the permission of the author, Paula Crossfield.
Message to President Obama: Why Trade Will Not Save Rural America
February 3rd, 2010 By Paula Crossfield
In Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's op-ed this week in the Des Moines Register, he recognized that hunger could not be solved by raising production, because production is in fact at record highs. Grappling with how these increases in productivity have not led to increases in profit, he explained that even though we've lost a million farmers in the last 40 years, "income from farming operations declined as a percentage of total farm family income by half." He continued, "Today, only 11 percent of family farm income comes from farming, which may explain why fewer young people go into farming and why many families rely on off-farm income opportunities to keep their farms." Vilsack gets the situation right, but his remedy is wrong. Instead of encouraging diversity and altering the pattern of overproduction which pits large farm owners against small by shrinking margins, the Obama administration's way of dealing with the discrepancy in rural America is through increasing trade.
More below...
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 15:03:10 PM PST
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The Senate Finance Committee just voted Islam A Siddiqui out of committee. The next step is for the full Senate to vote, but they will most likely confirm him. The best place to kill any bad nominee is in committee, and it's now too late to that.
Siddiqui's a former top lobbyist for CropLife, a biotech/pesticide organization. Here's a New York Times editorial criticizing his nomination.
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Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 22:01:25 PM PST
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Posted with the author's permission
Obama's broken promises, disappointing and dangerous
by Jim Goodman
"And it means ensuring that the policies being shaped at the Departments of Agriculture and Interior are designed to serve not big agribusiness or Washington influence peddlers, but the family farmers and the American People." President-elect Barack Obama, December 17 2008, Chicago, Illinois.
The message was one of hope, the words of a newly elected President echoing the Populism of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the promise of John F. Kennedy. It stopped there, the delivery of the promise fell short.
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 21:06:44 PM PST
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Is there any hope that the Islam A. Siddiqui nomination can be thwarted or is Obama's administration isn't fully bought into "agribusiness as usual"? Siddiqui is a bigshot at CropLife, a pesticide/biotech lobby group. The Senate Finance Committee will vote on his nomination tomorrow, November 19, at 10am EST. After that, the full Senate will still need to vote to confirm him. Pesticide Action Network put out a press release today, affirming their opposition to the Siddiqui nomination. They now have 75,000 signatures on a petition opposing the nomination as well.
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Wed Nov 04, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PST
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The NYT has a WONDERFUL editorial about the nomination of CropLife lobbyist Islam A Siddiqui:
The White House has nominated Mr. Siddiqui for the position of chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the United States trade representative. He is presently a vice president at CropLife America, a coalition of the major industrial players in the pesticide industry, including Syngenta, Monsanto, Dow Chemical and DuPont. That job doesn't seem to square with the Obama administration's professed interest in more sustainable, less chemically dependent approaches to agriculture.
The op ed notes that "the business of CropLife - an arm of which openly scoffed at Michelle Obama's plans for an organic garden - is to increase exports of agricultural chemicals." They conclude that "This seems too narrow a perspective given the administration's interest in the more organic approach favored by many consumers and farmers... The negotiator we need is someone who can represent a broad view of American agriculture." Hell yeah!
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