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."