US Right to Know calls on US Senate and House agriculture committees to investigate possible coverup for Monsanto

EXCERPT: Gary Ruskin, executive director of US Right to Know, said, “If true, this is a major scandal at USDA. It is not the proper role of the USDA to engage in a cover up for Monsanto or other agrichemical companies."
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Report: USDA scientists harassed for questioning Roundup's safety

Lisa Neff
Wisconsin Gazette, 31 Mar 2015
http://www.wisconsingazette.com/environment/report-usda-scientists-harassed-for-questioning-roundups-safety.html

A watchdog organization is calling on the U.S. Senate and House agriculture committees and the inspector general at the USDA to investigate a possible coverup for Monsanto and whether USDA scientists were harassed for questioning the safety of Roundup and other Big Ag products.

The call from U.S. Right to Know for review follows a report on March 27 from Reuters news service, which cited a claim from the the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility: “Some scientists working for the federal government are finding their research restricted or censored when it conflicts with agribusiness industry interests…. At least 10 USDA scientists have been investigated or faced other consequences arising from research that called into question the safety of certain agricultural chemicals…. Research into glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, and neonicotinoid insecticides, which have been linked to honey bee and monarch butterfly endangerment, face particular scrutiny…"

Gary Ruskin, executive director of U.S. Right to Know, said, “If true, this is a major scandal at USDA. It is not the proper role of the USDA to engage in a cover up for Monsanto or other agrichemical companies."

He continued, "It is intolerable that the agribusiness and agrichemical [industries?] should be able to interfere with USDA scientists and their work. Those scientists work for the public, not Monsanto nor the agrichemical industry.”

Letters from the group to House and Senate committee members and the USDA Inspector General asked for an investigation into alleged "corporate interference with USDA scientists," as well as for the release of any evidence of industry interference with USDA scientists.

Earlier this month, U.S. Right to Know released "Seedy Business," a report on the chemical-food industry’s $100 million campaign to keep consumers in the dark about genetically engineered food: how they manipulated the media, public opinion, science and politics.