With a new Congress comes new lawmakers and new committee rosters, including new chairmen and ranking members.
The Senate Finance Committee is charged with overseeing the president’s international trade agenda, and it has a not-so-new chairman—Sen. Chuck Grassley from Iowa. This will be his second turn holding the gavel.
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[O]n Jan. 9, Sen. Grassley met with the European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström to stress the safety of agricultural biotech in trade talks with the EU.
Before the meeting, Grassley said that any trade deal with the European Union must include agriculture. He also told reporters of his plan to eat genetically engineered corn and soybeans in front of EU officials.
“I’m kind of a laboratory for the European community to know these are a safe product, and they should be allowing them into their country,” Grassley said.
After the meeting, Grassley tweeted: “Met w Celia Malmstrom EU Commissioner for Trade. Ate a kernel/soybean in front of the EU group to prove that GMOs aren’t bad + I’m a laboratory to prove it. Chewing on corn/soybean is how farmers like me test the moisture content. So why isn’t Europe more accepting to GMOs since it hasn’t hurt me after 25 yrs??”
Read full, original article: Chowing down on GMO corn