We’re under attack from genetically modified government exceptions.

Congress gives special tax breaks to corporations through loopholes in order to give them a kind of ‘corporate welfare,’ such as the tax breaks granted to oil companies. All corporations and companies should be treated the same under our tax laws; special tax breaks and privileges for a select few promotes a culture of corruption and illegitimacy.

Abuse of corporate welfare has become so rampant in this country that it has now moved beyond basic tax breaks to actual laws being passed that favor certain companies or industries. Not only is this unethical, but it can also hinder competition, which in turn leads to artificially inflated prices by giving one entity a supreme advantage over the others.

Have you ever heard of the company Monsanto?

In Seattle, people placed Monsanto stickers on stop signs so they read “stop Monsanto.” This infamous corporation is a publicly traded biotech company that specializes in genetically engineered seeds and herbicides. They are also the creators of Roundup brand herbicide as well as a seed that is ‘Roundup ready,’ which means that the seed is immune to the same herbicide they produce.

Monsanto has a terrible reputation with farmers. They have filed countless lawsuits against farmers who involuntarily and unknowingly had Monsanto’s ‘Roundup ready’ seeds on their farms. The seeds were blown onto unauthorized farmland, according to the documentary “Food, Inc.”

Up until recently, Monsanto had to comply with court orders and health regulations regarding their use of genetically modified seeds. This has changed dramatically.

Monsanto gained a huge advantage in the form of a corporate welfare check from Congress. A provision snuck into the emergency budget bill – a bill that supposedly had nothing to do with farm regulations – that allows Monsanto and other large molecular genetics companies to be exempt from judicial review, according to Section 735 of HR 933.

Yes that’s right; a corporation that has a huge influence over the health of the public and food supply is now exempt from judicial review. This essentially means that Monsanto officials can sell whatever kind of seed they want and feed it to the public while ignoring court orders that tell them to stop.

This is the worst example of corporate welfare that I have ever seen, and not only is it unethical; it places peoples’ lives at risk, according to NonGMOProject.org, which believes that GMO products have numerous negative health consequences.

A large biotech company like Monsanto with a lack of oversight is dangerous.

But how does this happen? Why does Congress feel the need to give handouts to these companies?

Monsanto might have the hook up.

Monsanto has a large network of infiltrated positions within regulatory government agencies. Michael Taylor, the FDA deputy commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, used to be the vice president for public policy for Monsanto, according to the FDA website.

It is important that we expose this type of abuse. It goes beyond what tax breaks. This type of welfare is actually putting everyone’s health at risk and should not be tolerated.

-Mitch Strang is a senior finance major from Bellevue. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this Column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.