I began to investigate the reasons why the Free Trade Agreement negotiated by the Obama Administration was being implicated as the reason for the ICA ‘s Resolution 9.70. I found part of the answer in an article published by the Washington Fair Trade Organization titled,
Monsanto Writes US Trade Deals (really) The article pointed to Islam A. Siddiqui, Chief Agricultural Negotiator as evidence that Monsanto writes the Obama Administration’s Free Trade Agreements.
Who is Islam A. Siddiqui?
According to his bio on the
government website he serves as Chief Agricultural Negotiator with the rank of ambassador at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He is responsible for bilateral and multilateral negotiations and policy coordination regarding agricultural trade. Just prior to his appointment he served as Vice President for Science and Regulatory Affairs at
CropLife America. From 2001 to 2008, Siddiqui was a registered lobbyist with CropLife America, representing biotechnology companies including Monsanto,BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, FMC Corp, Sumitomo, and Syngenta.
Obama’s appointment of Islam Siddiqui in 2010 was extremely controversial. According to Organic Consumers Association in their article
98 Organizations Oppose Obama’s Monsanto Man . The article lists the organizations that wanted to block the nomination. Included is details of Siddiqui ‘s involvement with CropLife America. They also cover his long history of support for conventional pesticide laden farming, and GMO foods. The appointment went through and is proof of another broken promise. During Obama’s 2008 campaign he said that “lobbyists won’t find a job in my White House.”
Ambassador Islam Siddiqui, Chief Agricultural Negotiator
Islam A. Siddiqui serves as Chief Agricultural Negotiator with the rank of ambassador at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He is responsible for bilateral and multilateral negotiations and policy coordination regarding agricultural trade.
Dr. Siddiqui most recently served as Vice President for Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America, where he was responsible for regulatory and international trade issues related to crop protection chemicals. Previously, he has also served as Vice President for Agricultural Biotechnology and Trade at CropLife America.
From 2004 to 2009, Dr. Siddiqui served on the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Health/Science Products & Services at the U.S. Department of Commerce where he advised the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and USTR on international trade issues related to these sectors.
In 2001, Dr. Siddiqui was appointed Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he focused on agricultural biotechnology and food security issues.
He served the Clinton Administration in several capacities from 1997-2001: at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Dr. Siddiqui was Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs; Senior Trade Advisor to Secretary Dan Glickman; and Deputy Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. As a result, he worked closely with the USTR and represented USDA in bilateral, regional and multi-lateral agricultural trade negotiations. Before joining USDA, Dr. Siddiqui spent 28 years with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Dr. Siddiqui earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology, both from theUniversity of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. His B.S. degree in plant protection is from Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University in Pantnagar, India.
The Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada, or MSA (also known as MSA National), was established mainly by members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Nyack College theologian Larry A. Poston writes that “many of the founding members of this agency [MSA] were members of, or had connections to,” the Muslim Brotherhood or Jamaat-i-Islami.
The creation of MSA resulted from Saudi-backed efforts to establish Islamic organizations internationally in the 1960s, for the purpose of spreading its Wahhabist ideology across the globe.
Dr. Islam Siddiqui, founder and past president of UMA, is currently serving as Chief Agricultural Negotiator with the rank of ambassador at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He is responsible for bilateral and multilateral negotiations and policy coordination regarding agricultural trade. Before this he served as Vice President, Science and Regulatory Affairs, for Crop Life America. Earlier, he served as Under Secretary of Agriculture under President Clinton, and spent 28 years in various positions with the California Department of Food and Agriculture including the Directorship of the Division of Plant Industry.
UMA is a member of American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT). AMT is comprised of the following organizations: