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Sample Letters to the Editor on "Bill Moyers: Trading Democracy," Feb. 5th, 10 PM (ET)

The recent Bill Moyers documentary "Trading Democracy" was a real eye opener. I knew that NAFTA cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, allowed uninspected and unsafe food imports and fostered pollution on the border with Mexico. I didn't know NAFTA gives corporations the right to sue a country when they feel like their profits have been undermined. For example, a Canadian company is suing the U.S. for a billion dollars because California had the nerve to phase out the dangerous gasoline additive MTBE that was polluting water supplies all over the state. Surely, this corporation should not be allowed to interfere with California's health and safety standards, yet this is exactly what NAFTA allows! Now they want to expand this NAFTA model to 31 more countries. I think it's time we said "enough is enough" and admitted the failures of NAFTA rather than to try to expand it through the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
(148 words)

Most people think Chapter 11 has to do with declaring bankruptcy. But there's another Chapter 11 that is a serious threat to our democracy! Under NAFTA, Chapter 11 allows multinational corporations to sue a country if they feel their profits are being undermined. Already there have been dozens of cases filed under NAFTA, where corporations have attacked countries' environmental and health regulations. Unelected trade tribunals handle the cases, and all the documents are kept secret. A Canadian company filed a NAFTA case against the U.S. after a Mississippi jury ruled against the company in a domestic court dispute! I urge everyone to contact your elected officials on all levels about this threat to our democracy!
(115 words)

A little known NAFTA provision, Chapter 11, allows corporations to sue governments if they feel like their profits have been undermined by their actions, with disastrous results for the environment. Using Chapter 11, a U.S. company forced Canada to lift its ban on MMT, a gasoline additive which contains maganese, a human neurotoxin. A Canadian firm sued the U.S. for one billion dollars after California decided to phase-out MTBE, a gasoline additive that poses a threat to human health. Mexico had to pay $16.7 million to a U.S. company after it filed a case because a local Mexican municipality refused to grant it  permission to construct a waste disposal facility that the local community did not want. Now there are negotiations to expand NAFTA to 31 more countries. I hope Rep. XXX will say NO to expanding the failures of NAFTA further through the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) or any other proposed trade and investment agreement!
(142 words)

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