Sen. Roy Blunt: Monsanto’s Man in Washington. “As I reported a couple of weeks ago, a recent Senate bill came with a nice bonus for the genetically modified seed industry: a rider, wholly unrelated to the underlying bill, that compels the USDA to ignore federal court decisions that block the agency’s approvals of new GM crops. Which senator pushed the rider into the bill? At the time, no one stepped forward to claim credit. But since then, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has revealed to Politico‘s ace reporter David Rogers that he’s the responsible party. Blunt even told Rogers that he ‘worked with’ GMO seed giant Monsanto to craft the rider.”

Ban pesticides linked to bee deaths, say MPs. “Members of the Environmental Audit Committee are calling for a moratorium on the use of sprays containing neonicotinoids. The UK has refused to back an EU ban on these chemicals saying their impact on bees is unclear. But MPs say this is an ‘extraordinarily complacent’ approach. Wild species such as honey bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world’s crop production.”

In other “vegan news…”

“Vegan flips out over restaurant bill,” has been reported all over the internet recently. Very important news indeed.

Photo credit: EverJean via Flickr