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that most charity organisations are playing. The reasoning The past two US congressional farm bills presented behind CARE's decision is part of a years-long debate that —_ proposals to shift portions of the food aid budget from grain has influenced everything from US trade and domestic _ to cash donations, to be made available for people in need to legislation to the Doha Round of the World Trade __ buy locally grown crops. Both attempts were voted down. Organization talks. CARE USA's 2006 report, "White Paper on Food Aid 23. FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharma Drugs Policy", points out that the current food aid program is While the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) turns motivated by profit rather than altruism. The policy, which a blind eye, drug companies are making false, dictates that donated money be used to purchase food in the —_ unsubstantiated and misleading claims in their advertising, home country, results in a program driven by "the export and — often withholding mandated disclosure of dangerous side surplus disposal objectives of the exporting country" and not effects. Though companies are required to submit their the needs of people in hunger. advertisements to the FDA, the agency does not review them The US policy implements the practice of monetisation,a before they are released to the public. food aid policy in which the US government buys surplus A Government Accountability Office report released in food from American agribusinesses that have already been | November 2006 found that the FDA reviews only a small heavily subsidised and ships it via US portion of the advertisements it receives, shipping lines— generating transport and does not review them using consistent costs that eat up much of the $2 billion . criteria. annual food aid provided by the US The US policy In 2005, pharmaceutical companies government—to aid organisations implements the spent about US$4.2. billion in working around the world. The aid . advertisements aimed at the public, known organisations then sell the US-grown practice of as "direct-to-consumer" ads, up from about crops to local populations at a toatl $2.5 billion in 2000 and $1.1 billion in dramatically reduced cost. The aid OUEST 1997. The promotion of drugs to organisations use proceeds from these a food aid policy physicians, with almost $7.2 billion spent sales to fund their development and anti- . . in 2005, dwarfs advertising to the public. poverty programs. in which the US At the same time, public spending on But several groups, with CARE at the government buys prescription drugs has steadily increased, forefront, have pointed out that this policy has the effect of undermining local farmers and destabilising the very food production systems that reaching about $140 billion in 2001, more surplus food than tripling since 1990. from American 24. Japan Questions 9/11 and aid organisations are working to agribusinesses the War on Terror hed strengthen. estimony in the Japanese A policy that puts local farmers that have already parliament, broadcast live on Japanese out of commission and undermines been heavily TV in January 2008, challenged the agriculture in developing countries becomes part of a process by which those countries lose the means to develop, and thus they grow more dependent on the stronger and more the war's origin: the events of 9/11. dominant nations. These countries In a parliamentary Defence and become more vulnerable in every sphere, not only Foreign Affairs Committee session held to debate the ethics economically but politically. The result is likely to be more —_ of renewing Japan's "anti-terror law", which commits Japan hunger and less sovereignty as countries are tied ever more _ to providing logistical support for coalition forces operating tightly to the world market. in Afghanistan, Fujita opened the session by stating: "I The European Union has also been critical of the US food —_ would like to talk about the origin of this war on terrorism, aid program. European countries all but phased out the — which was the attacks of 9/11... When discussing these anti- practice of monetisation in the 1990s. Only 10 per cent of terror laws, we should ask ourselves: what was 9/11? And their budgeted food aid is reserved for crops grown in _ what is terrorism?" premise and validity of the global "war on terror". Democratic member of parliament Yukihisa Fujita insisted that an investigation be conducted into subsidised... Europe. Suspicions remain that the US uses monetised food Fujita pointed out: "So far the only thing the government aid programs to avoid limits on its universally contested __ has said is that we think it was caused by al-Qaeda because farm subsidies. President Bush told us so. We have not seen any real proof The United Nations World Food Programme, the largest that it was al-Qaeda." He reminded parliament that 24 distributor of food aid in the world, has rejected the practice — Japanese citizens were killed on 9/11, yet the mandate of a of monetisation and does not allow its grain to be sold by _ criminal investigation by the Japanese government never non-government organisations. followed. "This is a crime, so surely an investigation needs The past two US congressional farm bills presented proposals to shift portions of the food aid budget from grain to cash donations, to be made available for people in need to buy locally grown crops. Both attempts were voted down. The US policy implements the practice of a food aid policy in which the US government buys surplus food agribusinesses that have already been heavily subsidised... NEXUS ¢ 19 monetisation, from American DECEMBER 2008 — JANUARY 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com