Immigration, Big Tobacco and the Corporate Takeover of ... Everything
Also in Immigration
Recent Democratic Victories May Grease the Wheels for Immigration Reform in Congress
Marcelo Balive
NYC Marathon Raises Question of Who Is American Enough?
James E. Johnson, Jr.
A Broken Immigration System Marks a Disastrous Failure of Government Response
Mary Giovagnoli
Deported to a "Homeland" that He Never Knew
Julianne Ong Hing
Boss Tells Latino Workers to Ditch Spanish Names -- in What World Is this Guy Living?
Pilar Marrero
How Our Broken Immigration System Hurts Both Immigrant and Native-Born Workers
Tyler Moran
And the food crisis roils on, thanks to NAFTA and WTO's neoliberalization of the food supply. Mexican farmers continue to be displaced in the wake of NAFTA:
"We migrate because we don't think there are options," Mr. León said. "The important thing is to give options for a better life."
Viewed against the backdrop of rising food prices in a global marketplace, Mr. León's fight to keep farmers from abandoning their land is much more than a refusal to give up a millennial way of life.
As Mexico imports more corn from the United States, the country's reliance on outside supplies is drawing protests among nationalists, farmers' groups and leftist critics of Mexico's free trade economy. Earlier this year, as the last tariffs to corn imports were lifted under the North American Free Trade Agreement, farmers' groups marched against the accord in Mexico, asking for more aid.
Menthol is particularly controversial because public health authorities have worried about its health effects on African-Americans. Nearly 75 percent of black smokers use menthol brands, compared with only about one in four white smokers.
That is why one former public health official says the legislation's menthol exemption is a "cave-in to the industry," an opinion shared by some other public health advocates.
"I think we can say definitively that menthol induces smoking in the African-American community and subsequently serves as a direct link to African-American death and disease," said the former official, Robert G. Robinson, who retired two years ago as an associate director in the office of smoking and health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
See more stories tagged with: immigration, trade, big tobacco, nafta
Todd Tucker is research director with Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Immigration! Sign up now »
Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.