Islam A. Siddiqui ( hi, इस्लाम सिद्दिक़ी) is an Indian-American scientist, and government official, and lobbyist who served as the

Chief Agricultural Negotiator The Chief Agricultural Negotiator is an ambassador of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) responsible for conducting and overseeing international negotiations related to trade in agricultural products. The Chief Agricultura ...

in the

Office of the United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting Trade policy of the United States, American trade ...

. Prior to this, he was Vice President for Science and Regulatory Affairs at

CropLife America CropLife International is an international trade association of agrochemical companies founded in 2001. It was previously known as ''Global Crop Protection Federation'' and started out as ''International Group of National Associations of Manufactur ...

, and a career official in the

California Department of Food and Agriculture The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is a cabinet-level agency in the government of California. Established in 1919 by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor William Stephens, the Department of Food a ...

Education

Siddiqui earned a Bachelor of Science degree in plant protection from

G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology G. B. Pant University of Agriculture, also known as Pantnagar University, is the first agricultural university of India. It was inaugurated by Jawahar Lal Nehru on 17 November 1960 as the "Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University" (UPAU). Later the ...

Pantnagar Pantnagar is a town and a university campus in Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand. Nainital, Kashipur, Rudrapur and Kiccha, Haldwani are the major cities surrounding Pantnagar. The town is home to the first agricultural university of I ...

, India, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology, both from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

Career

Siddiqui served the Clinton Administration in several capacities from 1997 to 2001. At the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

, Siddiqui was Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Senior Trade Advisor to Secretary

Dan Glickman Daniel Robert Glickman (born November 24, 1944) is an American politician, lawyer, lobbyist, and nonprofit leader. He served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1995 until 2001, prior to which he represented as a Democrat in Congr ...

, and Deputy Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. Before joining USDA, Siddiqui spent 28 years with the

. From 2004 to 2009, Dr. Siddiqui served on the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...

's Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Health/Science Products and Services, which advises the

United States Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

and

United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting Trade policy of the United States, American trade ...

on international trade issues related to these sectors. From 2001 and 2003, Siddiqui was appointed as Senior Associate at the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...

, where he focused on agricultural biotechnology and food security issues. From 2001 to 2008, Siddiqui was a registered

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

with CropLife America, representing biotechnology companies including

BASF BASF Societas Europaea, SE () is a German multinational corporation, multinational chemical company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The ...

Bayer CropScience Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...

Dow AgroSciences Dow AgroSciences LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company specializing in not only agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, but also seeds and biotechnology solutions. The company was based in Indianapolis, Indiana, in ...

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

FMC Corp. FMC Corporation is an American chemical manufacturing company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which originated as an insecticide producer in 1883 and later diversified into other industries. In 1941 at the beginning of US involvemen ...

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...

Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masa ...

, and

Syngenta Syngenta AG is a provider of agricultural science and technology, in particular seeds and pesticides with its management headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. It is owned by ChemChina, a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Syngenta was founded in 2 ...

. On April 2, 2010, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

named Siddiqui to the post of Chief Agricultural Negotiator in a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the president of a federal official when the U.S. Senate is in recess. Under the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause, the President is empowered to nominate, and with the advi ...

. Siddiqui's previous nomination to the position remained on the Senate docket for more than a year and a half. His nomination was reported to the Senate floor from the

United States Senate Committee on Finance The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...

on October 11, 2011, and senators finally voted to confirm Siddiqui as part of an en bloc group of nominations confirmed early in the morning hours of October 21, 2011. Siddiqui submitted his resignation December 12, 2013.

Position on genetically modified foods

Siddiqui is a supporter of

genetically modified foods Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Genet ...

for human consumption, and repudiates their potential health risks. In 1999, he worked against the mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods in Japan, stating that such labeling "would suggest a health risk where there is none." In 2003, he criticized the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

's precautionary rejection of the importation of genetically modified foods, stating that the ban was tantamount to "denying food to starving people." In 2009 he called for a "second

green revolution The Green Revolution, also known as the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields and agricultural production. These changes in agriculture began in developed countrie ...

" employing

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

and

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

. In 1998, as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the

, Siddiqui oversaw the release of the

National Organic Program The National Organic Program (NOP) is the federal regulatory framework in the United States of America governing organic food. It is also the name of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) program r ...

's standards for organic food labeling. The standards permitted both irradiated and genetically modified foods to be labeled as organic. (The standards were subsequently revised in response to public opposition.) In 2005, speaking on behalf of CropLife America, Siddiqui stated his satisfaction with the defeat of local propositions in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

that would have banned cultivation of

genetically modified crop Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of s ...

s.Food Chemical News, January 3, 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddiqui, Islam A. 1940s births Living people United States Department of Agriculture officials Biotechnologists American lobbyists American politicians of Indian descent American Muslims University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences alumni Recess appointments People from Haldwani