Tommy Thompson

Secretary of Health & Human Services Tommy Thompson

Tommy Thomson, governor of Wisconsin, has just accepted George Bush's nomination for the position of Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In that capacity, Thompson will become the "boss" of the FDA.

Thompson has a long history of supporting Monsanto and biotechnology.

Before the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone was approved, Wisconsin's dairy farmers protested its approval and seeked a moratorium for its use.

Thompson lifted that moratorium, despite the fact that 90% of the calls to his office voiced support for the moratorium.

Thompson recently received a $50,000 gift from the biotechnology industry. While governor, he passed through legislation that got $317 million in state funds to build a "silicon-valley-style" biotechnology zone.

That's Thompson's vision for Wisconsin. The "Biotechnology State." That too, may be his vision for America.

Pharmaceutical companies helped fund the Republican Party's bid for the presidency.

Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone caused cancer in laboratory animals. That is why I am here, doing what I do. Had it not been for Monsanto, I would probably still be eating cheese and ice cream. I never would have learned what I now know about milk.

A MOB SCENE

I've also learned how Monsanto works. They exert their influence, and, like the MAFIA, get favors paid back.

I'm worried about the Monsanto connection to George W. Bush. Monsanto's insiders are becoming regulatory decision-makers of America's new government. We are becoming the outsiders.
above from: Robert Cohen http://www.notmilk.com

Below from NY Times opinion section: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/30/opinion/30SAT1.html

Mr. Thompson is the architect of one of the country's most
innovative welfare reform policies. As such, he promises to bring
creativity to the federal agency that oversees welfare, Medicare,
Medicaid and Social Security. When he became governor in 1987,
about 100,000 Wisconsin families collected welfare benefits. As he
prepares to leave, the number is down, by one measure, to about
20,000. Wisconsin's robust economy has been one big reason for this
decline. Another has been Mr. Thompson's innovative policies. Like
others in his party, he preaches individual responsibility and
work. Wisconsin's program puts everyone in some type of job,
including community service for those unable to find employment in
the private sector.

But Mr. Thompson also insists on spending government money to
provide the working poor with ample medical insurance, child care
assistance and other support services. When the new welfare law
comes up for reauthorization in 2002, some Republicans will argue
for cutting back federal money because welfare rolls have
shriveled. Mr. Thompson can be expected to pull hard in the
opposite direction, calling on Congress to keep funding flowing so
that states can make sure that people who have left the welfare
rolls stay off.

The biggest question mark about Mr. Thompson is his record on
abortion. He is adamantly pro-life, and signed some of the nation's
harshest anti-abortion laws. One, blocked by the Supreme Court,
would have imposed sentences up to life on doctors who perform
so-called partial birth abortions. Mr. Thompson cannot change the
basic laws governing a woman's right to choose, but his department
is enormously important to women's reproductive freedoms. For
example, under President Clinton officials at the department fought
hard to make available the "morning-after" pill, whose use is
opposed by many right-to-life groups. The fear among women's groups
is that Mr. Thompson will reverse this and other enlightened
policies.