Sound Bites: SNAP And Monsanto

SNAPOctober 1, 2013 – Segment 2

It’s a brand new episode of Sound Bites. We start by examining the major cuts to SNAP benefits in the House’s version of the Farm Bill. Guests include: Robert Paarlberg, the Betty Freyhof Johnson Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and researcher on food and agricultural policy; Triada Stampas, Senior Director of Government Relations at the Food Bank for New York City; and Rachel Sheffield, Policy Analyst at the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation.

Then we turn our attention to a legislative provision that had been protecting Monsanto by allowing biotechnology companies to continue selling genetically-modified seeds even after a court had blocked their sale over safety concerns. The Farmers Assurance Provision, or “Monsanto Protection Act,” was removed last week from the Senate version of the spending bill when Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) led a successful charge to have the protectionist language removed. Discussing this new development will be: Colin O’Neil from the Center for Food Safety; and Thomas Parker of the Redick Global Environmental Ethics Counsel, LLC.