Food & Water Watch: History and Agenda

Mike Corthell, Editor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Food & Water Watch is a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization and consumer rights group which focuses on corporate and government accountability relating to food, water, and fishing. Food and Water Watch employs a four pronged effort focusing on public and policymaker education, lobbying, media, and Internet activism. Food & Water Watch became independent from its parent organization, **Public Citizen, in 2005. Food & Watch denies that it is in agreement with *Agenda 21, an action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. However, critics point to the fact that Food & Water Watch's actions speak louder than their denials.

**Public Citizen

Founded by Ralph Nader in 1971,^[4] Public Citizen is funded by dues and contributions from its members and supporters, foundation grants, and publication sales and does not accept government or corporate funds.^[5]

Public Citizen runs with the slogan of “Corporations have their lobbyists in Washington D.C. The People need advocates too.” As explained on their website their overarching goal is “to ensure that all citizens are represented in the halls of power.” They are a nonprofit organization that is not affiliated with any partisan political activity nor do they ever endorse any politician running for public office. They survive on donations from their 80,000 supporters and other means of attaining money without resorting to the acceptance of donations from the government or corporations. Public Citizen aims to make sure that the government remains one by the people, for the people and in that attempt leads the charge “against undemocratic trade agreements that advance the interests of mega-corporations at the expense of citizens worldwide.” As a means of fulfilling that mission, Public Citizen has five policy groups that work hard on behalf of the people: The Congress Watch division, the Energy Program, Global Trade Watch, the Health Research Group and their Litigation Group. They have two offices located in Washington D.C. and Austin, Texas respectively. The Congress Watch Division of Public Citizen “champions consumer interests before the US Congress and serves as a government watchdog.” They are focused on three aspects: “strengthening health, safety and financial protections. Ensuring access to the courts to hold corporations accountable for wrongdoing. [and] strengthening our democracy by exposing and combating the harmful impact of money in politics.” Their Energy Program attempts to rally people against the harmful dangers of nuclear power and instead advocate a reliable and sustainable energy future. Among their effort include the desire to combat climate change and support an environment that runs on sustainable energy. Public Citizen’s Health Research Group leads this sector’s “research based, system wide changes in health care policy and drug safety.” They are in charge of newsletters which they use to educate the public regarding drug interactions and dangerous drugs. They fully support a single payer Medicare for everyone. For forty years Public Citizen can take credit for “successfully challenging the abusive practices of the pharmaceutical, nuclear and automobile industries” as well as many others. Along with tackling those overarching sectors, their work includes sections such as access to justice, access to medicines, climate and energy, commercial alert, financial reform, globalization and trade, government reform, health and safety, litigation and Texas issues. ^[6]

*United Nations Action Plan 21 (Agenda 21)

U.S. support

The United States is a signatory country to Agenda 21, but because Agenda 21 is not a treaty, the Senate was unable to hold a formal debate or vote on it. It is therefore not considered to be law under Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. Several congressmen and senators, however, have spoken in Congress in support of Agenda 21;^{[citation needed]} these include Representative Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry, and Senator Harry Reid.^[13]

In the United States, over 528 cities are members of ICLEI, an international sustainability organization that helps to implement the Agenda 21 and Local Agenda 21 concepts across the world. The United States has nearly half of the ICLEI's global membership of 1,200 cities promoting sustainable development at a local level.^[14] The United States also has one of the most comprehensively documented Agenda 21 status reports.^[15]

U.S. opposition

During the last decade, opposition to Agenda 21 has increased within the United States at the local, state, and federal levels.^[16] The Republican National Committee has adopted a resolution opposing Agenda 21, and the Republican Party platform stated that "We strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of American sovereignty."^[17][18] Several state and local governments have considered or passed motions and legislation opposing Agenda 21.^{[4][19][20][21][22][23]} Alabama became the first state to prohibit government participation in Agenda 21.^[5] Many other states, including Arizona, are drafting, and close to passing legislation to ban Agenda 21.^[24]

Activists, some of whom have been associated with the Tea Party movement by the The New York Times and The Huffington Post, have said that Agenda 21 is a conspiracy by the United Nations to deprive individuals of property rights.^[4][23] Columnists in The Atlantic have linked opposition to Agenda 21 to the property rights movement in the United States.^[23][25] A poll of 1,300 United States voters by the American Planning Association found that 9% supported Agenda 21, 6% opposed it, and 85% thought they didn't have enough information to form an opinion.^[23]