The World According to Monsanto
There’s nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the bringe oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it – it’s strategic. It’s more powerful than bombs. It’s more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world. The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the “revolving door”. One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the company’s vice president for public policy.
Thanks to these intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety. Not coincidentally, Monsanto supplies 90 percent of the GE seeds used by the US market. Monsanto’s long arm stretched so far that, in the early nineties, the US Food and Drugs Agency even ignored warnings of their own scientists, who were cautioning that GE crops could cause negative health effects. Other tactics the company uses to stifle concerns about their products include misleading advertising, bribery and concealing scientific evidence.
Watch the full documentary now
This is truly scary, one corporation ruling the world and the people. This is not going to end well.
BINGO!!!! First, Obama takes away our guns, then our food! The world has never seen the likes of what is about to happen to The United Socialist States of America.
I am a Vietnam Vet who was exposed to Agent Orange! I have suffered from 27 symptoms since my exposure. My first clue to the horror was that where sprayed the environment looked like black death had set in, as all plant life was dead, along with bugs and animal life. Nothing was left. Then I was sprayed on (contrary to reported that this was never done according to our govt) with other vets with me and I had acne on my skin that day and worse as I couldn’t wash in the bush, or for weeks after. That acne still didn’t heal until I found, by chance to find that a medical center who was treating lead poisoning, used this same treatment on me and 67 other veterans who suffered the same symptoms as me. We all returned to a semi-normal life, as long as we kept up a regiment of treatments from this center. However they couldn’t right the cancer that came 5 years ago and I was told by the VA that i had prostate cancer and I was going to die without surgery! I refused the surgery as I found Dr. Lorraine Day’s answer of alternative treatment of cancer to surgery. She is a Cancer surgeon and she came down with cancer herself and is on the internet. She used prayer and frankincense to treat her cancer. It worked and she like me is cancer free without surgery. I put drops in my water I drank and the food I ate. I took a leap of faith, as I was told by authorities not to ingest this at all, as it will be very harmful to me.
I did research on Agent Orange at a University that pointed out the discrepencies that both Monsanto and the govt. led on for us to believe.
I let the information lead me where it may like this documentary. I found an article in the Discover magazine printed in 1986 I believe. The article was about Times Beach, Mo. and the horror there. Times Beach is a small town south of St. Louis, MO. (home of Monsanto) and the families there started to complain to authorities that their children were losing hair, coming down with leukemia, cancers and many other symptoms much like mine. The article pointed out that the town had gravel roads and they allowed someone to spray an oil based liquid to be sprayed on the dust down. In every 50 gallon barrel used there was 1 ounce of dioxin used in each barrel. By the way Dioxin is what was used in the 50 gallon barrels of Agent Orange. Guess what, in each barrel of Agent Orange was 1 pound of dioxin per barrel.
No one responded to the out rage of the people for their health symptoms. Yet, as the article said, when a horse died in one of many horse arenas in the area that was also sprayed by the same people that sprayed this chemical to control the dust in the arena’s. The horse was 2,700 lbs and the EPA was called in to find the reason for the horses death. They took the horse and put it on a metal slab out in that arena and did a 1/4 inch cut in his abdoman and they abstacted fatty cell tissue from the cut to find out if there was a poison in the animal. The EPA person was pictured in this article wearing a moon suit to protect him from any exposure of possible toxins. In the same picture several computers were surrounding him and the computers found that the horse contained enough dioxin in it’s system to kill 10 times it’s weight! They stated that it absorbed this dioxin through it’s hooves! What? In the article they decided to remove the areas sprayed with this chemical both in the arenas and in the town. They filled dump trucks full of the road gravel and the horse arenas. The town people were warned by the EPA to move from the town in fear of it’s health and could cause possible deaths. What? The EPA was shown, along with pictures of the dump trucks tires and outside with EPA people wearing moon suits washing off the tires and outside! What? They drove the trucks to an undisclosed site and they incinerated this soil and gravel at a temperature of 3,700 degrees! What? Guess what! Dioxin is formed by a temperature of only 150 degrees. Dioxin occurs at a level depending on the amount of temperature of 150 degrees and over. For ever degree over 150 degrees dioxin occurs at an alarming level for every degree over that temperature. For every degree it multiplies itself by itself which is astronomical to say the least. So then why did they incinerate it at such a high level. They misled people and press to a false understanding of how to dispose of this horror chemical. They convinced all that this took care of the problem. Then why did they tell the towns people to leave after they removed the soil? Because they knew that what they were doing didn’t take care of the problem. It was mentioned in the article that down stream of the town, the Mermac River’s fish was found to have extremely high levels of dioxin and mercury! What? You see it poisoned the whole environment, including down stream fish!
In an hour into this documentary about Monsanto addresses Agent Orange. Be patient and if questioning my credibility, then watch what they say!
Monsanto needs to pay up for all the dioxin it has made and that would take care of them forever. They need to pay the people and families of all exposed and also clean up all sites where their dioxin has been used, stored around the world, as well as the oceans clean up of the barrels dumped there after Vietnam! This is their problem not the responsibility of the people using it! They made it! They sell it! Therefore they are responsible. Vietnam vets consolidated suit against them proves they knew about the health hazards and possible death of persons exposed! The memo found sent out by Monsanto saying to other chemical co. involved, “Do not leak that dioxin is a health hazard and could cause death!” This is their memo, not mine nor anyone using the chemical. That’s why the Veterans won their case! However on that point, the $285,000,000 awarded by the court judge, only came to $900 each for the 400,000 vets involved. The lawyer got $1,000,000 the day of the decision. The veterans got their money as late as years later. How fair is that? Believe me as a suffering vet who didn’t get any money from this suit, as I didn’t qualify under guide lines at that time. I do now, but, oh how sad for me. Let’s have a pity party for me. No, lets get rid of Monsanto! Then and only then will I be a little happy. I could get millions and not be happy. It’s not about the money, like it is for them! I’ll never be the same and I’m sure I’ll die before I am supposed to because of my exposure. So will millions around the world! They are still selling dioxin to third world countries and they are going to poison the populations in the gene pool of seeds and ban organic crops that they don’t own. They will own any crops that pollen from their crops germinate and they will then own that crop! Listen to the issue on this in the documentary!
regarding the comercial: after the dog kills the weed using round up, he retrieves a human bone…how cryptic.
And so, the Obamas plant a lovely vegetable garden in their rather large backyard. Tom Vilsack becomes the Secretary of Agriculture (I wonder how he feels about Michelle’s organic garden); Michael Taylor (featured in this documentary in telephone conversations) heads, once again, to the FDA. I imagine they come over for dinner and enjoy Michelle’s pesticide-free, plump tomatoes (uhhh, that came out wrong). After the meal they likely laugh and say, “Let them eat cake!” albeit one made with genetically modified ingredients.
Christ. This is absolutely outrageous. Mega corporations are destroying society as we know it!
The part that really got me was Monsanto’s pledge from their website:
Integrity: Falsifying information, faulty studies.
Dialogue: Refusing interviews.
Transparency: Confidential documents, company secrets.
Sharing: Taking land from local farmers.
Benefits: Cancer, hepatitis, death.
Respect: Trashing scientific opposition.
You get the picture. F**k Monsanto.
@ Andy – You missed the nomination of Islam Siddiqui. See here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_19436.cfm President Obama should listen to the First Lady on this one.
When if ever does thier patents on GM seed run out?
Thank you Julia,
The list just goes on and on. Unfortunately, I don’t think Mr. Obama or the First Lady have much to say here.
Excellent. Watchin’ this just after Food, Inc.
I must say, this company is evil… =/
I agree that Monsanto is evil. But, if we walk off from the contract we have with the evil – refuse to pay the royalties, then the problem is solved. Do we we have to follow the rules/laws that are made by them and in favour of them? Let’s say F***-off Monsanto and the like.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
“The part that really got me was Monsanto’s pledge from their website:
Integrity: Falsifying information, faulty studies.
Dialogue: Refusing interviews.
Transparency: Confidential documents, company secrets.
Sharing: Taking land from local farmers.
Benefits: Cancer, hepatitis, death.
Respect: Trashing scientific opposition.”
one part of the problem is the patent it is protected by law.
so let’s brake the law.
scrap them of their patent, when they want money for the their researches, then it will be equivalent for their damaged caused
what is this nonsense of depriving people of liberty.
burn all the Monsanto factories, people who do this should be called freedom fighters fighting for their liberty. of course the yankee controlled media would call them terrorist.
but it is the only way these people can understand. a pity …how much grief they caused already, how much will be caused…
let’s put an embargo on america, to force them to leave this weapon of mass extinction.they rely on the cupidity of people and take advantage.
the american people, and there are a lot of good american people out there , they must realise that it is these people who are giving americaa bad image of being liars, imperialists, looking only for their own gain. they must stop to buy into the propagandas.
the soldiers must refuse to fight, the people must pressure the government and be prepared for sacrifice. other people have already paid dearly millions of dead, injured, you are responsible. please, from the world we are telling you to stop stop these people from destroying our planet.
i normally don’t do this but f##k monsanto
Having seen this film and others like it. I have to question. What exactly is the problem? The problem isn’t the poisoning of our food supply by “GMO” or “monoculture.” The problem is us. Humans. There’s too many of us on the planet. We’re pushing the system to the breaking point regardless of any technological tampering. The introduction of “GMO” and “monoculture” is just helping to speed along the process of killing us off so the planet can return to its natural balance. Wipe out the humans and all the GMO crops will die out anyway as they won’t survive without our help.
I always laugh at that imbecile farmer with the american soybean association saying that RR soy is “perfectly safe” and “good for the environment”.This company,its products and its business practices really scare me.Its hard to comprehend a company who thinks nothing of trashing the environment or destroying peoples lives,all in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
And now, Forbes magazine has declared Monsanto “Company of the Year” in their “America’s Best Companies” issue (January 2010)! The article paints an innocuous picture of this company of the future, and blithely dismisses criticisms of Monsanto as mere image problems with an overly sensitive public. Monsanto’s true problem, according to Forbes? Their products are TOO GOOD! We average citizens are going to have to be tenacious to resist this takeover. We must overturn Diamond v. Chakrabarty (1980), the decision that makes it legal to patent living things. The decision claimed that the organisms in question were human creations, products of human ingenuity, and therefore could be property. But those humans didn’t create life; they merely hybridized it. These organisms are not human creations any more than mules or ligers or pluots are human creations. The argument that a new species was created is a shell-game in terminology. They can’t create life, they can only participate (or interfere) in it. A macabre observation: with solemn respect and condolences to the families; by the logic of such a court decision, are all those deformed and stillborn children Monsanto’s property, too? Good people must resist this abomination, and as a publicly-traded company, Monsanto is required by law to do everything it can to maximize and protect its profits, so we’ll need our thinking caps on to resist effectively.
What is perpetually missing from Monsanto coverage is that this corporation is a front office for a family whose patriarch realized, no later than the mid-1970s, that ownership of oil was not going to ensure the clan’s long-term ascendancy over the human race. Hence, the Rockefeller family’s strategy, from that time forwards, has been to ensure that some day, well before oil has seen its last drop burned, whenever a human being anywhere eats a bite of food, the Rockefellers get a dividend. This is also why Monsanto has been able to breeze its inhuman agenda past federal regulators, who as often or not are former placeholders in various Rockefeller companies or foundations.
“I’ve never seen a President — I don’t care who he is — stand up to them. It just boggles the mind. They always get what they want. The Israelis know what is going on all the time. I got to the point where I wasn’t writing anything down. If the American people understood what a grip these people have got on our government, they would RISE UP IN ARMS. Our citizens certainly don’t have any idea what goes on.”
Thomas H. Moorer
(1912 – 2004)
Admiral,
US Navy & Chairman,
Joint Chiefs of Staff during interview on
24 August 1983.
Karl Marx
“The Jewish people as a whole will become its own Messiah. It will attain world dominion by the dissolution of other races, by the abolition of frontiers, the annihilation of monarchy and by the establishment of a world republic in which the Jews will everywhere exercise the privilege of citizenship.
In this New World Order the children of Israel will furnish all the leaders without encountering opposition. The Governments of the different peoples forming the world republic will fall without difficulty into the hands of the Jews. It will then be possible for the Jewish rulers to abolish private property and everywhere to make use of the resources of the state. Thus will the promise of the Talmud be fulfilled, in which is said that when the Messianic time is come, the Jews will have all the property of the whole world in their hands.”
— Baruch Levy, Letter to Karl Marx, ‘La Revue de Paris’, p.574, June 1, 1928
Americans rise up!!!
Israel is behind 9/11. it is israel that should be attacked not afghanistan.
We allow it to happen.
We deserve what we get for our complacency.
We are to blame for not putting an end to them and their evil products.
“All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing”
Hows all that “doing nothing” working out for you?
They think we’re ****** and weak… because we are.
Truth hurts ..
google
it wasn’t Muslims
Joe Biden “I’m a zionist”
War is a racket by General Smedely Butler
Israel did 9/11
Rothschilds timeline
The bilogical jew by Eustace Mullins
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
it’s the jews ******
iamthewitness.com
To Rick
Why do you refer to future America as “The United Socialist States of America?”
Monsanto’s control over food production is capitalism gone wild. In a socialistic country, all Americans would own Monsanto and share in its profits.
Too many people slander socialism without knowing what it is or how it could be of benefit to everyone – except the mega corporations who pretty much own us now.
Unfortunately its not a simple answer. Its not the republicans, or the democrats. Its every corrupt piece of s*** that is doing all the policy making behind the scenes. This whole democrat/republican, taking sides and bickering thing is nothing more than a distraction from what is really going on. Its the damn Bilderberg Group, the Tri-Lateral Commission, and our completely private, unregulated, unbacked Federal Reserve. Keep arguing “The Left This,
” “The Right That,” while total hell for the everyday person is being constructed right under your noses.
Why do you think we have so many more cases of cancer these days???? Its the damn food supply. This is exactly what happens when just a few control a lot.
I just wanted to let everyone know that there (obviously) is also a book writen by Marie-Monique Robin and it is even more shocking when you learn about all the little schemes Monsanto pull off and the way everything is interconnected. Bassically its a must read, theres about two to three times more mind-blowing information. When you understand that contamination of the (organic) versions of any GMO is a result – intended or not – you truly become worried for the food safety of the future generations. If you wanna start playing God youre going to fail because humans will never be all knowing. The true consequences of GMOs… ? I dont know ! We will find out in the next 20 years. Ill wait and see, until then i wont eat them. If you trust Monsanto and wanna eat some, go ahead. But you know what really sucks. Weather i wanna eat some or not i cant really control that because they arent labelled. I mean i guess Monsanto should just come to my dinning room and shove them down my throat by force. This is bassically what theyre doing. Well in that case i guess we can say goodbye to any chance of linking future health problems to GMOs. Not only has Monsanto succeded to put these freaks of nature on my plate but they have covered their *** from every possible angle. I mean i cant tell you how disappointed i am right now. But i have to stand in awe to the accomplishments of Monsanto in the case of the GMOs. I mean if you told me before hand that they were going to succeed in their attempt to get these leaglized i woulda said youre crazy. Im starting to believe maybe man is crazy. I have to stop now cuz i can go on for hours. Lets take action people… We the people have the power, less we never forget that.
This is very frightening, if monsanto were ever to realise their goals, that simply isn’t a world I’d want to live in. It must be stopped at all costs, but how? What evil ****** they must be, tampering with nature to such a degree( I’m not talking about the army of clever but completely unethical lawyers and scientists they must have, but the main driving forces, the money holders), don’t they give a **** about anything but profits? This is true insanity!
True Tom. There are only a few ways to change what is happening to our food due to companies like Monsanto, change what we buy and be vocal in our objections. It is not the current administration’s fault, Obama did what every president in the last two decades has done, he determined that they best policy makers in the United States regarding food-safety are the creators of that food/seed/chemical/ gene. He is not the first, only the latest. It’s a problem for today’s food due to the huge percentage of GM corn being used to feed our livestock. It is bad for the mammals we feed it to, it causes infection (along with the use of daily antibiotics) and promotes the feed-lot factory farm. Check out King Corn if you haven’t yet. Passion of the people is the only way to change policy. They want our money and trust me, they are passionate about it.
I would like to get a patent for every circumcised *****. That way, whenever anyone uses their ***** in any way, my corporation will receive a small sum. This will have the unintended effect of reducing the world’s population, but more importantly, it will add to my firm’s profits. This will be introduced with a marketing campaign heralding the benefits of this plan to the consumer and choice, freedom, etc. I hope no Monsanto executives are reading this, I don’t want them to steal my idea.
So what are we going to do about all this ??? NOTHING !!!
Because Monday to Friday we work 9 to 5 and after work we’re soooo tired, then Saturday we got the lawn to do, the kids at baseball, soccer, what have you. And last but not least, Sunday there’s church (what a big help that is) then football all day.
The fact is, Americans do not have what it takes to stand up, like Ireland, Africa, France, Argentina, Palestine just to name a few.
We rather sit on our Lazy-boys and watch CNN and *****. The reason is simple, we have never had a war in our own back yard like these countries and so many other countries. The only fight that some of us have seen are the ones in someones else’s back yard for our government’s agenda.
(and for the m***** out there, our civil war is not from this time).
The alarming message taken from The World according to Monsanto & The Future of Foods is…’Health & the Environment’ taken directly from this film -can Monsanto be trusted for the future survival of humanity? The “3 critical elements required for humanity to survive” (Air,Water,Food) The focus of a re-vocation of U.S. patent for living organism (seeds) is necessary to stem “monopoly of the world food crop” How did the U.S. patent office allow a patent on an organic natural organism ??? IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED- It is time to stand up!
@ Rick,
come on guys, go and read a proper definition of what socialism is and can be and give your formatted mind a break would you?
Biased education you have had.
Monsanto – the monstrous green plague. Pure evil. They destroy the world. They lie.
Genetics is not the enemy. But they way Monsanto uses the technology (bad science, lying, rash decisions)for evil short sighted gains is. With such technology the utmost precautions should have been taken. Instead no precautions were taken.
GMO’s should have been quarantined from the natural environment… In space or lifeless planets, air tight facilities or on isolated islands. But not so…
Complete corruption. We shall all suffer.
Add Monsanto as a competitor with the tragedy of the commons, religion, ignorance, needless shortsighted selfishness, mortality and war for the title of ‘greatest scourge of humanity.’
I think Watson and Crick despite their great intelligence have failed or ignored the downside of the discovery of DNA structure. Watson seems to have a poor understanding of ecology… and only sees the positives of genetics, as seen by his endorsement of Monsanto…. but I think if he knew they were actually doing bad science, that they were lying to people… that they did not care for humanity like he did… I think he would – or hope he would condemn what Monsanto has done in the world… giving genetics a bad name.
When I watched this I just cried. Anger mixed with helplessness. Monsato and the like are parasites on this planet, their greed knows no bounds. I would like to be positive but basically we are screwed.
jkaz, Bluesmanwalking and others, DO NOT DESPAIR!!! WE NEED YOU for the fight against these giants, and they are NOT as invincible as they look! A movement of disillusioned farmers is already afoot. “People power” is already amassing, and it’s more powerful than all the lobbyists and all the guns money can buy. Without lobbyists, and without millions in treasure, People ended Jim Crow, People halted union-busting, People cut Big Tobacco down to size, and now People will challenge Monsanto. “People power” means WE NEED YOU! Check out what Pesticide Action Network is doing, for example. I don’t represent them, but they can give insight into what’s being done. So far it’s just the seed of a grassroots movement (no pun intended) and it is growing. We can collapse in despair (what Monsanto wants us to do) or WE CAN JOIN THE FIGHT! We should cry if we need to; it is a heartbreaker, but let’s get it out of our systems so we can get to work on what we can do to take this giant DOWN so they do harm no more. We MUST overturn Diamond v. Chakrabarty (1980), the decision that legalized the patenting of living things. Even if you can only use your purchasing power, use it! Learn how you can avoid making purchases that benefit Monsanto, and tell others what you’re doing. Think outside the box. These creeps got powerful under cover of darkness. They are not immovable.
disgusting seeing these type of companies taking what the want, not caring for anything but them selves. how do the people who run these types of business’s is beyond me.
the true answer is to EAT ONLY ORGANIC food, instead of using any MOnsanto produce whatsoever, and boycott them…this is the only solution against such a large global company!lets not just talk about it and throw insults…THE UNIVERSE REWARDS ACTION x
Rick, sorry but Obama hasn’t taken your guns away, but he has given you healthcare in case you do get shot by someone that points a gun in your direction. Understand why you are angry at the government, but privatising profits and socialise losses was something that GW.Bush started, a Republican president. You keep your guns, eat your burger, and idolise your Glen Beck and Fox News, and thank Obama for keeping you alive, because healthcare is something everyone now has access to.
sounds like mosanto is fammine of the 4 horsemen. Definetly doing a good job bullying farming communities into poverty and hiding any adverse effect gm crops have and this is only the beginning.
worrying information. how the hell do you stop something like this?
In the U.S., you will have to buy only organic (or grow your own) foods. This will cost you a bit more, but it’s what I’ve chosen to do, for more reasons than just one. There is no reason why anyone should trust Monsanto, given their track record. The U.S. government should stop subsidizing their crops and instead subsidize organic agriculture. Also, you should make sure none of your portfolios include Monsanto stock. I would also encourage everyone else to watch this film. Bravo to the producer and director, well done. We need to do more, all of us. And it can be done. The problem is ignorance and greed.
As much as I hate monopolies, I hate lies even more – policies and political actions governed by silly emotions have no place in a conversation.
Firstly, the term is GM crops, not GE crops (for the dimwits up top).
Secondly, DDT (or GM crops for that matter) have still not been linked to ANY health issues in people; this argument is as ****** as Jenny McCarthy pretending to be an expert on the fake link between inoculations and autism, or the 9/11 Troofer movement. In fact, an estimated 6 million people have died of Malaria since DDT was banned. Organic food, on the other hand, is granted the right to use Copper as its primary fungicide, which is 200 times more toxic than the biodegradable chemicals used in synthetic farming.
Organic farming cannot produce more than 80% (on average)of the yield of synthetic farming, and uses much more energy per acre. People who think organic is the solution are simply uneducated…or they are implying that they advocate that most of the third world needs to die off so that the ycan continue to stoke their yuppy ego. Furthermore 8 in 9 food contamination incidents in stores and markets came from small, family farms, 80% of which were organic.
EVERY crop is genetically modified – they are all products of eugenic practices, not of which occured in nature. Tomatoes were bred from the poisonous Nightshade plant.
90% of crops are grown on small scale family farms, not on giant corporate farms – this is just another straw man anti business argument.
The more I read the comments on this site, the more I feel that we deserve to starve to death.
Monsanto is a weapon, Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of Monsanto.
Monsanto had and has ex-executives that are now heads of government departments. Bush Rumsfeld Cheney and other have shares in Monsanto since the late 70′s early 80′s.
Tyler520 is the perfect candidate for monsanto & you make me sick !
Once again, the multinationals are trying to control the world. The elites have hold over government, food, & the environment. It’s time for the poor & working class to wake up out of their stupor before it’s too late; “the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look & do nothing” (Albert Einstein).
“Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.” (Mahatma Gandhi).
Tyler520: Organic food is not just about chemical issues, it is about animal welfare. Animals in intensive farming are treated with criminal disrespect and cruely, and in organic much less so.. It is for this reason alone that intensive farming is wrong. And you’re an expert on the long term effects of agricultural chemicals on water courses and thei accumulation and effects in marine environments, are you? Harmless are they? What are your thoughts on the plastic industry? Good, (harmless) stuff.. right!?
Rick up top, Bush and his thugs have had their hands in this too. Both parties want this. Makes one wonder.
I’m sure that Monsanto would love to control all of the world’s food, but they don’t have the power to bring those dreams to fruition.
Are they going to send enforcers to each and every back-yard to check for people “illegally” saving seed? Of course not. The only reason they can afford to do it now is because so few people are using their seed.
If you’re worried about this problem, you can do something about it by growing a garden with heirloom varieties of your favorite fruits and vegetables. Also, support your local farmer’s market.
Tyler520 – Are you for real or are you just a Monsanto shill??? I have SOOOOooo very many problems with your almost totally erroneous statements.
Let’s start with the fact that GM ORGANISMS is the widely accepted term. (NOT ‘crops’ – hence the term ‘GMO’ and not ‘GMC’, since you’re so intent on nitpicking details). HOWEVER, prior to the use of “GM”, the accepted term was “Genetically Engineered”…that’s “GE” for you, dimwit, so GE IS perfectly acceptable for those that actually know what they/we are talking about anyway.
I’m not exactly sure what your qualifications are, or what scientific ‘facts’ you base your arguments on, but as a trained Environmental Scientist/Ecologist who has worked for over 30 years in all aspects of horticulture, I can say that most of what you said is a complete & total crock of sh*t.
I will concede that copper is allowed to be used by organic farmers…I beg to differ with you on it’s levels of toxicity. Have you ever had a course in toxicology? You really believe copper is 200 times more toxic than methyl bromide or any of a number of other fungicides? Top it off with the fact that most Americans are presently moderately to highly deficient in copper, and it becomes a non-issue for organic farmers.
I will also concede that DDT as a DIRECT cause of health problems is somewhat in question, if absolute certainty is what you require, as I prefer to do for the substances I ingest. Personally, my feeling is that if you can’t PROVE 100% that it’s safe (at least in moderation, and over the long-term), keep it off of & out of my food supply. There are already far too many approved known/suspected carcinogens, teratogens and mutagens in our food supply without adding more. DDT’s indirect effect as a catalyst for disease and health problems is absolutely without question. It’s negative environmental effects are absolutely without question….you really don’t think DDT’s only targeting those insects that are disease vectors, do you?
Do not confuse genetic engineering with selective breeding…There is a HUGE difference between selective breeding, which has been done without any mechanical equipment for thousands of years, and using a gene-gun or the other two laboratory methods used to insert the gene from one species into another that it would never come into contact in nature, let alone breed with. There is a reason why nature doesn’t allow inter-spcies breeding, and that’s why you are unable to impregnate those farm animals.
Lastly, there are not enough small family farms remaining to actually provide 90% of the food supply in this country, let alone for 80% of the 8 out of 9 contamination problems to be traced to them. In fact, the tracking methods the government actually uses to trace foodborne illnesses are actually very much a joke to those of us in the know. Do you really think they know without doubt where all the cases of E. coli and Listeria poisoning in the last few years originated from? hahahaha…not a snowball’s chance in hell.
And lastly, what does the fact that tomatoes are in the nightshade family have to do with anything? Eggplant, potatoes, bell peppers, petunias, tobacco and capsicum, among others are all also part of the Solanaceae family. Tomatoes are not “bred from nightshade”, they ARE nightshade, and NO, I don’t mean Belladonna…that’s the problem with self-proclaimed pseudo-scientists like Tyler using common names and not being specific with botanical latin). In lay terms, it’s actually called the potato family, not the nightshade family, so exactly WHAT is your point anyway?!?!!
Please, nobody listen to Tyler’s tripe. He has no clue whatsoever what he’s babbling about.
As for Monsanto, the whole reason I came here to comment before I got distracted…
Well, they are the people who brought us PCB’s (along with General Electric) dioxins, DDT, the herbicide 2,4,5-T, Agent Orange, rBGH (aka Posilac), and aspartame (aka NutraSweet), and promised us the whole time that they were perfectly safe…we know enough now to know that they were lying through their teeth…and their own internal documents prove it. They also brought us the nuclear bomb (helped with it at least – Mound Labratories/Dayton Project), polyurethane and polystyrene. We know how great those products are for us and the environment. The fact that they came up with LED’s does not make up for all the harm the previous products have caused and will continue to cause for decades, at least.
Now they have brought us GMO’s, and they once again are promising us they are perfectly safe. Given Monsanto’s track record of lies, deceit, corruption, unethical behavior and pure malevolence, combined with the fact that once the genetic genie is out of the bottle it can absolutely never, never, never be recalled, I don’t believe a single word they say and never will. (so don’t be so sure about their inability Heather, as growing your own food is great, but eventually it will become contaminated too.)
As an environmental scientist who grew up with a clinical nutritionist as a parent, I can say with some authority, that barring the actual physical destruction of the Earth, Monsanto specifically, and GMO’s in general, are probably the biggest and most immediate threat to human and environmental health and safety worldwide. Yes, that sounds melodramatic, but as the saying goes, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that they’re not out to get you.” I think when it comes to the very things that give us life, ‘prudent, deliberative research, erring on the side of caution’ should be the watchwords, not ‘reckless abandon’ & ‘mindless greed’.
sorry for the two “lastly’s” that obviously weren’t the last…hard to stop once I get on a roll.
Also, I should have said that in lay terms, the Solanaceae family is “more often actually called the potato family than the nightshade family”, not “it’s actually called the potato family, not the nightshade family…”
Great post anotherscott.
This documentary is incredibly chilling…read this equally disconcerting article about the American police increasing raids on private farms and how they intimidate private growers.. http://bit.ly/bTxyhz
What does this mean? Police complicity in trying to ‘weed out’ organic farmers and home growers to consolidate the power of big agriculture? scary stuff.
If anyone wants to learn organic farming i run a volunteer work agency in Ecuador, check it out: http://bit.ly/bLXrXM