what do you think about Monsanto?

[LVGeneration]

I was just wondering what the people on this forum think about Monsanto. I have recently discovered about this multinational American company from youtube videos. Here's a link to a complete documentary, very interesting, about this company:

Controlling Our Food

It's scary. They used to be a chemical company, producing stuff like agent orange, and now they produce pesticides and are trying to take over the food industry. They also own 90% of the world's genetically modified foods. They are replacing organic seeds with GM seeds that are patented, so the farmers aren't allowed to collected their own seeds for the next crop, they become dependent on this company. Please watch the video if you haven't already! Also look it up on youtube. There's a video there of two reporters that were intimidated by this company into not doing a news report about milk from cows that were treated with their growth hormone.

Just trying to raise awareness and inform people.
What are your thoughts about this?

[voldenla]

Ah - I have been ranting about the evils of Monsanto for years, but to no avail here in the midwest. I live in the middle of Farm Country in the great Dairy state, and while most farmers are aware of the BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone) feasco, most are not aware of just how far reaching their grip is....

I have tried to talk to my dad about the issues I have with their Roundup Ready corn, and then to Spray hundreds of gallons of 2,4,D (Herbiced) to kill every living thing it touches, Except the Corn?!?!

Of course my dad is so proud of how nice those fields look, standing tall with out a weed to be seen for acers. But we remember the days of pulling weeds by hand in a hundered acers of corn- So what to do?

Lori
West Central WI

[funchy]

Monsanto is a huge multi-national corporation which exists only to make more and more money.

If we want to blame anyone, we also need to blame ourselves: the EPA, USDA/FDA, the elected federal representatives, our state officials, etc. We have a broken election system where people need millions of dollars to run successfully for public office, and if they have to raise the money themselves, of course they'll have to rely on "friends" to keep funding them. We need to blame a farming system (down to the individual farmers) who choose to keep buying their product because they're compelled to produce more yield/acre each year.... forgetting than oversupply drives prices down and they end up barely breaking even. People also need to blame themselves because it's the consumer which drives the marketplace, and all most of us seem to care about is getting things cheaper.

So yes, Monsanto sucks but so does most mainstream commercially produced foods.

[ginkgo]

They are a great example of greed and how for them, money is the only thing that matters. They are selling people's health away. The government should use their anti-monopoly laws on them. Yes, they suck big time! Maybe Steve Pavlina should run for U.S. president. Has anyone ever mentioned this idea before? Am I the first person to think of it? The internet caused Obama to get many college votes. It could do the same for Steve Pavlina.

[Savage]

Monsanto is a pretty solid example of darkworking IMO, at least from an outsider's perspective on the consequences of their actions.

[LVGeneration]

Thank you everybody for your reply.

funchy - You're right, we do need to blame ourselves as well. We cannot take ourselves out of the equation. But their roundup-ready corn, for example, ends up in a great diversity of foods and it would be very hard to avoid it. Plus many, many people have never heard of Monsanto (I was one of them until recently).

voldenla - It's great that you do care. What to do? Maybe more information to people would help.Like I said, most people never heard of Monsanto and maybe many farmers don't know the real implications of their practices. If Monsanto's story went mainstream, I am sure that would put them in a very bad light, and if there was a real strong support for organic crops, farmers would do that instead. Most of Europe has banned GMO's, they had polls with the population and an overwhelming number of people voted against GMO's. Monsanto is constantly pressuring these governments to lift the ban, trying to make their monopoly complete.
Maybe we, the people of America, should petition our government to follow Europe's lead and ban these crops. Or at least specify GMO in the labels.

ginkgo - Yes, I would vote for Steve ! We need some spiritual leaders that really care about people and the planet. If Steve were president, he would have soooo many things to change...Would we be ready?


steve pavlina - "darkworking IMO". Well said. Thank you for your wonderful site and forum!

[Excellent Lodestar]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

The government should use their anti-monopoly laws on them.

LOL! are you kidding? The Gov in is Bed with them; bought off.

Originally Posted by ginkgo

Maybe Steve Pavlina should run for U.S. president. Has anyone ever mentioned this idea before?

God, why would we want to do that to Steve? Steve is sincere(from what I observe) and being an outsider(honest) his campaign would never see the light of day. Remember Ron Paul?

We have to fly just below the radar; There was a line in the "Art of war" that says to never appear stronger than your enemy so as not to alert enemy to your opposition status.

"vote" at the checkout stand by the foods you buy and try to keep it as local as possible. that's the only way I see to bring the Goliath to it's knees, By refusing to buy what they offer. Tall task,considering we're only now discovering how deep and far Monsanto's domain is

[Excellent Lodestar]

Steve's darkworker term is perfect regarding Monsanto.I some ways To beat them we must remember that like all Darkworking Co's. they aren't just going to let a "free market" or any form of opposition take them out peacefully,IMO. there will be blood, metaphorically. One way Monsanto works is to have our beloved Govt pass laws that try to manipulate our freedom of choice, in the name of "public health". Can you say HR 875?--what a joke. until they have time to adjust and create other means of survival, Monsanto will play hardball

[LVGeneration]

Monsanto has it's tentacles spread everywhere. How are we supposed to know what fruits and vegetables have been sprayed with their pesticides or what fruits and vegetables have been genetically modified? Since there is no regulation in the US to put this on the labels, we can't know. One solution would be to eat everything organic: organic corn, organic soybeans, organic milk products, etc. But how realistic is this? We can't always in all circumstances buy exclusively organic. Many times there are just nut enough organic choices and they are too expensive.
So what is the solution? I think a good start would be labeling of all foods that have been genetically modified. That way consumers would think twice before picking up from the shelf a genetically modified corn can or a popcorn bag made with GM corn. This would hurt Monsanto and they know it. How can we get the FDA to label these products and start confining their rapid spread into our food chain?

[Dreamline]

Man I thought hating Walmart all these years was fun. Monsanto puts them to shame, and then some. I've been writing disgusted letters to my politicians for years about Monsanto.

I was hoping regime change could put the brakes on their bid to rule the world.

I'm not naive enough to think we can live completely without chemicals but we sure as hell can live without the not knowing what we are ingesting, no longer having a choice about GM foods, not knowing who was harmed in the process of bring that food to my table and not knowing how much cash changed hands on Capital Hill to get these ridiculous concessions for the big M.

Jennifer

[Gazi]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

Maybe Steve Pavlina should run for U.S. president.

Steve's presidency will be bad for economy . . As I assume that he will ban dairy, poultry and meat industries

[Hyperchiller]

Monsanto's actions are a kick in the butt telling us to start our own organic gardens. Hurry up!

[Dreamline]

Monsanto's actions are also a reason to re-evaluate regulating certain businesses and industries. Given a chance, the average massive business will NOT do what is best for all concerned, only for their shareholders. How many hard lessons over the course of nearly two centuries do we need?

Jennifer

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by Gazi

Steve's presidency will be bad for economy . . As I assume that he will ban dairy, poultry and meat industries

Steve is smart enough to change things gradually. Also the power of a president is limited by the House, Senate and Supreme Court.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by Excellent Lodestar

"vote" at the checkout stand by the foods you buy and try to keep it as local as possible. that's the only way I see to bring the Goliath to it's knees, By refusing to buy what they offer. Tall task,considering we're only now discovering how deep and far Monsanto's domain is

I am all for people refusing to buy anything with added refined sugar or corn syrup, but they do not label what is GMO (genetically modified). Question: Can something that is organic also be GMO?

[jeff3]

It is the nature of corporations to grow and become more powerful if they are not self limiting. They use many of the principles of IM to further their aims. They have a mission statement, written goals/directives, large master-mind group. The more people they employ and bring under their umbrella of protection the more power they have in the form of their support. It must also be pointed out that while some may hate them and find things they do to be bad or call them "darkworkers" others will love them and genuinely believe their lives have been improved by them.

[LVGeneration]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

I am all for people refusing to buy anything with added refined sugar or corn syrup, but they do not label what is GMO (genetically modified). Question: Can something that is organic also be GMO?

No, it cannot be labeled organic if it's a GMO. Monsanto of course tried very hard to classify it's GMO's as organic but fortunately it didn't happen.

From reuters webpage: "Widespread contamination of U.S. corn, soybeans and other crops by genetically engineered varieties is threatening the purity of organic and natural food products and driving purveyors of such specialty products to new efforts to protect their markets, industry leaders said this week."
Monsanto's GMO's are living organisms that cannot be contained. They are spreading everywhere in the wild and in people's crops, it's like a plague that needs to be stopped.

Did you watch the documentary in my link? It explains a lot of stuff, there are more documentaries about Monsanto on youtube, like "the future of food"

[Dreamline]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

I am all for people refusing to buy anything with added refined sugar or corn syrup, but they do not label what is GMO (genetically modified). Question: Can something that is organic also be GMO?

Yes. Because technically, any hybrid of any fruit or vegetable is genetically modified from it's original form. Even if the farmer did it naturally. Brushing pollen from one form into the flower of another is all it takes to be "genetically modified."

But by today's organic standards, no, the newer versions of genetic modification are not allowed in organic produce. Splicing genes, etc.


Jennifer

[funchy]

Monsanto targets public radio to spread false biotech messages | Grist

[LVGeneration]

Originally Posted by funchy

Monsanto targets public radio to spread false biotech messages | Grist

From that article: "Monsanto, the world’s largest corporate agribusiness chemical firm, touting how its genetically modified (GM) seeds are going to save the world from environmental catastrophe and human hunger".

The reason why I started this thread is because I consider Monsanto to be one of the most unethical companies in the world, a true example of "darkworking", as Steve puts it. And they have the audacity to sugarcoat the truth about themselves and try to seem like they really care about anything but money, meager things like the environment and people's health. They are trying to jump on the bandwagon and "greenwash" a bit, now with all this hype about the environment... Boy, they must think we're REALLY stupid! They must truly think we've all been brainwashed and believe everything we're fed by the media.
It really gets my blood boiling every time I think about this "Monsanto" monster.

Let's see, what has Monsanto been doing for the last 70 years? It was a chemical company, producing PCBs and plastics and synthetic fabrics, in WW2 it played a huge role in developing the atomic bomb, it produced agent orange, that killed many americans and vietnamese alike (a true genocide, if we consider that since the end of the war an estimated 500,000 Vietnamese children have been born with deformities), they have killed so many people with their dioxin toxin that contaminated land and rivers (Times Beach, Missouri, was found to be so thoroughly contaminated with dioxin, a by-product of PCB manufacturing, that the government ordered it evacuated), they have created Round-up, a pesticide that uses glyphosate, a highly toxic poison for animals and humans, and then created GMOs that are Round-Up ready (so you see, the GMOs haven't been created with world hunger in mind, but with money in mind, just a trick to sell more RoundUp), they've created rBGH, that poisons the cows, giving them udder infections that require high doses of antibiotics (so the milk they give is full of toxins, antibiotics, hormones and puss.. YUMMY!)

[sk8joyful]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Monsanto is a pretty solid example of darkworking IMO,
at least from an outsider's perspective on the consequences of their actions.

yup,
and first they would need to actually genuinely CARE, about life... in general, and its quality...

[lovelyn]

Monsanto is a horrible horrible company. I've seen so many bad documentaries about them. They have their hands in so many bad things. They're a perfect example of the pathology of a corporation. They don't care about anything but money and are willing to sacrifice the health of the planet on every creature on it to make a buck. Disgusting!

[funchy]

One person suggests 2 easy ways you can take a stand against Monsanto:

YouTube - Top 2 Ways You Help Monsanto Every Day (Without Knowing It)

[LVGeneration]

Originally Posted by funchy

One person suggests 2 easy ways you can take a stand against Monsanto:

YouTube - Top 2 Ways You Help Monsanto Every Day (Without Knowing It)

OK, so according to the video, there are two basic things you can do to impact Monsanto. 1 - replace conventional sugar that comes from their GM beets, and 2- replace the pesticide Round-Up with natural alternatives.

If you're not a farmer, the second idea can't apply to you. So there you have it, replace sugar and you'll impact Monsanto. Really?

Here's a short list of products that contain derivatives from Monsanto's GMOs:

infant formula, salad dressing, bread, cereal, hamburgers and hotdogs, margarine, mayonnaise, crackers, cookies, chocolate, candy, fried food, chips, veggie burgers, meat substitutes, ice cream, frozen yogurt, tofu, tamari, soy sauce, soy cheese, tomato sauce, protein powder, baking powder, alcohol, vanilla, powdered sugar, peanut butter, enriched flour and pasta. Non-food items include cosmetics, soaps, detergents, shampoo, and bubble bath.

Buying anything that has HFCS will put money into their pockets, HFCS is made from GM corn. Almost all of our food choices are contaminated, starting with the basic things in the American diet: soda, bread, cereals, meat, diary.

The solution would be to buy exclusively organic, but it's not realistically possible for a large segment of the population to do so.

[Brutha]

The solution would be to buy exclusively organic, but it's not realistically possible for a large segment of the population to do so.

You have quite a few raw foodies on this forum

Maybe Steve Pavlina should run for U.S. president. Has anyone ever mentioned this idea before? Am I the first person to think of it?

You don't change the system by exchaning one person at the top.
You actually need to convince large amounts of people to change. It's not something that can be fixed by a single person.

Question: Can something that is organic also be GMO?

You have four types of genetic manipulation:
1) Natural evolution through breeding
2) Putting crops into atomic plants near the reactor to let them mutate and afterwards do the breeding thing.
3) Transfering gens from one organism to the other through recombinant DNA.
4) Creating entriely new gens through gen synthesis
5) (in the future) Creating completely new organisms through a combination of 3) and 4).
(Craig Venter is making live these days...)

As far as I know crops out of 1) and 2) can be "organic" while higher levels can't.

I think that Mosanto is a bad company.

[Holiday]

I have a differing opinion...

I read in this month's National Geographic that strains of crops and fertilizers created by Monsanto, among others, are responsible for what they call the "Green Revolution" of agriculture (not related to any environmental green revolution) which, over the course of several decades, increased crop yields for farmers by 100% or more, relieving massive starvation in countries like India, Bangladesh, and Malawi.

That's a good thing.

[Andrew Brunelle]

They are one of the most evil companies of all time. Hillary Clinton used to defend them. They are so monopolistic and extremely totalitarian. I wouldn't step 100 miles near one of their factories.

[Per Nyblom]

How hard would it be to create Roundup-ready weed (and other unwanted organisms) by natural selection (breeding) you think?

One could perhaps start with small amounts and keep the surviving ones but I don't know if this is possible with Roundup. I am just fond of the idea of fighting fire with fire

That would be a nice blow towards Monsanto though, but would also make the Monsanto farmers suffer unfortunately...

By the way, I am not really against "improving" nature by genetic engineering, but I find it very sad how these products are used in the wrong hands.

EDIT: I did some reading and found out that there is already a big problem with so called "superweeds" that are resistant to Roundup.

[funchy]

Today's Monsanto update:

the phosphorous mine they use to create RoundUp is a big environmental mess:

Local News | APNewsBreak: EPA says Monsanto mine violates law | Seattle Times Newspaper

[scorpio1980]

I think someone needs to lay off bombing of abortion clinics, and instead set a few off at the monsanto coporations. Not really, but seriously I think they are corporate scum, and someone needs to figure out how we can stop them before they own the patents on all plant foods. Who the hell has the right to own a type of food? What ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! I will never buy GMO, and I hope karma bites them in the ass for the damage they are causing.