MONSANTO EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Some nervous nellies don't think it's a good sign that the manufacturer of Agent Orange now dominates the global market for genetically mutated seeds.
Monsanto already controls a significant percentage of your food supply. The former maker of Agent Orange, dioxins, PCBs and other way toxic chemicals has transformed itself into an "agricultural" business specializing in genetically modified seeds. And there is no thuggery, chicanery, legal intimidation or corporate bullying Monsanto hasn't conducted to force it's questionable science on farmers world wide. Now, as the true nature of the science and the company are becoming obvious to the general rube population, Monsanto prepares to introduce GMO sweet corn to the market. But you won't know, because Monsanto has ways to prevent labeling.
If you haven't been paying attention to Monsanto, it's time you started.
Now the world's largest supplier of GMO seeds
Owner of 674 biotechnology patents
72% of the U.S. corn crop is now Monsanto GMO seed
142 million acres planted in the U.S. as of 2007
Worldwide 282 million acres
At least 21 weed species have become resistant to Roundup
Perpetrator of the rBGH milk travesty
About 11 - 15 million acres have been invaded by superweeds
Spun off it's polluted Superfund sites and massive lawsuits to a new fake company called Solutia.
FARMING THE UNSUSTAINABLE MONSANTO WAY:
Sign a liensing contract with Monsanto and get a big bag o magic seeds and a 55 gallon drum of RoundUp killer herbicide. Once you saturate your fields with RoundUp, nothing will grow there except Monsanto genetically altered seeds.
Your yield may be greatly improved for one or more years. You won'thave to plow as often, rotate your crops or practice other sound farming methods. But then, depending on the crop, things begin to change.
The problem is, as predicted early in the game, both weeds and pests like the root worm and corn borer develop resistance to RoundUp and the poisons built into the corn plant, the same way bacteria mutant to resist anti-biotics. The result is the superweeds and super bugs you might be hearing about.
There are other serious downsides to planting GE crops. You buy new seed every year. If you attempt to hoard seed, Monsanto will come after you. Sometimes, even if Monsanto only thinks you are holding the seeds, the lawyers and private investigator will conduct surveilance on you and your family.
But once Monsanto or any other seed supplier has you by your seed sack, you are out of choices. If their product fails, as it has often around the globe, you have no other recourse. Want to try and go organic in a field permanently contaminated by RoundUp?
When the new mutant weeds and bugs start popping up, you are back to square one. Farmers in the Midwest are now back to treating their fields with good old fashioned poison in order to slow the superweeds.
ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACY
Walked away from Anniston, Alabama and Nitro, WV after leaving a legacy of death and stone-walling. Read the story here.
RoundUp contaminated water.
Evidence of damage from eating GM foods
This past spring a Canadian study found that the GMO toxin inserted in Bt corn was found in the bloodstreams of 93 percent of pregnant women — just from its presence in processed grains and highly processed food products.
BUSINESS PRACTICES
It is hard to imagine a company less qualified to control the world's food supply. The history of the Monsanto company is filled with deception, arrogance and bullying. Journalist who attempt to tell the story are fired. Farmers who plant unauthorized seed are jailed. Co-ops who reject Bovine Growth Hormone are infiltrated.
In 2005, Monsanto paid $1.4 billion for Seminis, which controlled 40 percent of the U.S. market for lettuce, tomatoes, and other vegetable and fruit seeds. Two weeks later it announced the acquisition of the country’s third-largest cottonseed company, Emergent Genetics, for $300 million. It’s estimated that Monsanto seeds now account for 90 percent of the U.S. production of soybeans, which are used in food products beyond counting. Monsanto’s acquisitions have fueled explosive growth, transforming the St. Louis–based corporation into the largest seed company in the world.
More than a quarter million Indian farmers have commited suicide since the onset of Bt corn use fifteen years ago. Most of the suicides have been in the cotton belt, where Monsanto has established a seed monopoly through Bt cotton. Monsanto's businss practices have pushes most of the farmers in the area into debt.
When things aren't going Monsanto's way, they use they army of attorneys, lobbyists and spies and private investigators to mold reality to suit their needs.
When GMO seeds contaminate other, non-GMO fields, Monsanto sues the non-GMO farms for patent infringement. In other words, sue the victim. It's like the Catholic Church suing altar boys for letting priests rape them. The behavior was so egregious that California had to pass a law (AB 541) which indemnifies farmers from harassing lawsuits brought by biotech patent holders, such as, for example, Monsanto.
According to a 2008 article in Vanity Fair, a Monsanto agent even threated a small general store owner in rural Missouri with a lawsuit, even though the man was not a farmer.
Sued farmers and dairy coops to prevent "bovine growth hormone free labeling".
In May 2003 the US Senate passed a bill tying assistance for AIDS in Africa to acceptance of GMO. Interesting.
THE RISE OF THE SUPERWEED:
Monsanto is the world leader by far in the development and production of genetically engineered seed for corn, soybeans, cotton and an every increasing range of other crops. In theory, the seeds provide any number of benefits, requiring only one treatment of herbicide (Monsanto's Roundup). Early on, farmers embraced the engineered seed because it increased production, required less crop rotation and reduced labor (so much for American jobs).
The downsides of the farming by Monsanto plan were manifested when weeds began to develop a resistance to RoundUp. This outcome was almost universally predicted by independent scientists, with equally predictable result that Monsanto went after the scientists. But they did not go after the weeds, which are now mutating into new breeds that laugh at RoundUp.
According to a series of new studies published in the journal Weed Science, farmers losing the battle against out-of-control superweeds in their fields. According to the farmers, these monsters are grow up to three inches a day, and are so strong and thick that they wreck farm equipment.
THE RISE OF THE SUPERPEST
Monsanto Bt corn crops in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri are now experiencing severe damage from the rootworm beetle. Introduced in 2003, the magic corn produces a Cry3Bb1, which kills the rootworm when it eats the corn. Or rather, it used to kill the rootworm. Now the root worm likes the taste. Can't get enough of the Cry3Bba.
In India, Bt cotton sold under the tradename Bollgard was supposed to control the bollworm. Today, the bollworm has become resistant to Bt cotton, so Monsanto is selling Bollgard II, which contains two additional toxic genes. Result: new pests have emerged and farmers are using more pesticides.
FAILURE TO YIELD:
From all the PR caca to come out of Creve-Coeur, Missouri, you would think that GMO seeds were the answer to the world's food problems. But increasingly, they are among the causes. The Union of Concerned Scientists has published analysis of GMO seed performance in the U.S. that concludes genetic engineering has actually done very little to increase the yields of food and feed crops.
Globally, the situation may be worse. While we hear that genetically engineered seeds are drought and heat resistant, they have actually only been developed for herbicide resistance and pest resistance. And those traits are back-firing. Herbicide-tolerant (or Roundup Ready) crops were supposed to control weeds, and Bt crops were intended to control pests. But instead of controlling weeds and pests, GE crops have given us new species right out of late night science fiction: superweeds and superpests.
Following a PR onslaught by Monsanto's subsidiary, farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India planted Bt cotton crops on 8,000 acres in 2002. After one year of experience, the Minister of Agriculture of Andhra Pradesh declared that Bt cotton farmers had not enjoyed successful results with Bt cotton.
Similarly, Monsanto Bt cotton was a failure in Indonesia in 2003. In spite of the company's claims, the crops were ruined by drought and pest infestations. The government eventually revealed that more than 70 percent of the Bt crop locations did not produce the promised expected yields. In addition, Monsanto officials were accused of a massive bribery scheme to force farmers to plant the GM crops. Monsanto agreed to pay a $1 million penalty to the U.S. Department of Justice. It also agreed to pay another $500,000 to the SEC. All taken care of.
NATIONS BANNING GMO CROPS:
Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Japan, Egypt, the Phillipines, China, and the European Union.
France also withdrew authorization to plant Monsanto GMO corn in 2007, after initially allowing it.
