...to bring you a very important public service message! This is a documentary I came across recently. While the country and media was focused on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, Obama signed a bill that basically allows Monsanto to continue to harvest and sell genetically modified crops even if courts have deemed it unsafe for consumption. It puts them above the law! But we the American people heard nothing of it.
I have to admit that I watched it in its entirety Wednesday while I was home sick. I have highlighted the important details but I encourage you to at least watch the last 45 minutes! If you care at all about the future of the food you are putting on your tables and into your children’s mouths, take the time to watch! Monsanto is a huge company who is setting out to purchase all seed companies which in turn allows it to control all the world’s food supply. They are greedy liars who only think about their pocketbooks but they are POWERFUL! Former Monsanto employees manage to get jobs at the FDA, falsify research and silence anyone who questions their actions/research. Even the media has been silenced by their power. What they do should be on the front page of every newspaper and the top story on the nightly news. If you aren’t aware, this is the same company that created DDT, Agent Orange, PCBs, Aspartame and more. The company was caught in lies about the safety of these chemicals and no long-term research was completed. The research that was completed is even questionable. We now know the dangers all of these have on the human system. Are we really going to take their word that GMO’s are safe?? Here are the highlights from the video:
- Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) is a genetically engineered hormone that is injected into cattle to increase milk supply. Along with this comes mastitis, or inflammation of the milk glands. This introduces PUS into the milk. Because of the mastitis, cows need to be treated with antibiotics. There is a substantial increase IGF-1 growth hormone which has been linked to an increase in some cancers. Young girls getting breast cancer? Could this be why?
- Monsanto employees have been known to obtain jobs within the FDA, EPA and other high power positions in our federal government. In one instance, Monsanto employee Margaret Miller oversaw a report on rBGH only to take a position in the FDA to aprove her own report!
- Monsanto has a way of silencing those who question their actions and any media who attempts to write stories that may reveal who Monsanto really is. They have fired people, moved them from positions and have threatened them/tried to buy them out to silence them.
- If you were a food producer and decided to add a drop of natural food coloring to your ingredients, you would have to go tests and research to prove your food is safe and then that ingredient would have to go on the ingredient label. Ingredients that are GM DO NOT have to be labeled on the ingredient label.
- Genetically modified seed has had its DNA changed...this may result in a similar crop, but is it natural? These seed are modified so that they can resist pesticides/herbicides or produce their own insecticides. When you bite into that corn, you are biting into an insecticide producing organism....there is no way of removing this! GM organisms are also susceptible to invasion species and super weeds which can withstand the pesticides.
- GM crops are labeled as “substantially equivalent” which means they are almost identical to their natural counterpart, therefore they do not need to be identified as GM. Substantially equivalent? Is that like saying an orange is substantially equivalent to a tangerine, so we don’t need to let consumers know exactly what they are consuming?
- NO conventional cotton seed available to farmers in many parts of India. Monsanto controls nearly all the cotton seed market in India. Farmers are forced to buy their seed at 4 times the cost of conventional cotton, forcing them to take out loans to purchase the seed, which have high interest rates. This is ruining many Indian villages. Between 2005 and 2006, India reported that 600 cotton farmers had committed suicide because their farms went bankrupt. That number continues to increase. In another year, they saw another 682 suicides. Monsanto is making farmers dependent on their company.
- Monsanto controls most of the seed manufacturers. They are setting out to control all food. “If they can control seed, they can control food.” Indian author Vandana Shiva is working to help India free themselves from Monsanto
- MOnsanto is also creating a fear in American farmers. Those who plant Monsanto GM crops, are required to sign contracts and cannot reharvest seed. They must purchase new seed every season. If they are caught reseeding or are to have reseeded, they will be questioned and sued. Thus causing many to go bankrupt.
- Organic crops can no longer be trusted due to transgenic contamination, which is the cross pollination of GMO and organic crops. Pollen can spread a kilometer or more.
- GMO’s have already contaminated Mexican corn in isolated areas where it was assumed the corn was pure. Mexico has banned GMO crops but they cannot stop the trade from US crops because of the NAFTA Free Trade Agreement. This corn brought in from the US (which is genetically modified) cost half as much as traditional mexican corn, so mexican consumers will likely go for the cheaper, thus putting Mexican farmers out of business. If Monsanto is successful in taking over the seed market, Mexicans will be forced to not only use Monsanto’s corn but also buy their fertilizers and herbicides because the crops won’t grow without them. Traditional Mexican corn doesn’t need any fertilizers or herbicides to grow effectively. Traditional corn will be uncontrollably affected. Monster plans are surfacing in Mexico and invading the fields that have been used to grow pure corn for centuries. Farmers in Mexico, as in India, will certainly suffer.
- Monsanto collects royalties on each ton of soybeans produced in Brazil and Paraguay. While Monsanto claims their GM crops will help with problems such as deforestation, and other environmental issues, there has been no let up in Paraguay’s deforestation. They have instead seen an expulsion of many small farmers. Insecticides are sprayed right up to peoples front doors and are killing livestock and other valuable crops, not to mention causing health issues, especially among children.
- Countries all over Europe, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico among others have banned the harvesting/selling of GM seed and crops.
Scary? Yes, indeed. What is to become of our food supply if Monsanto is successful in monopolizing the food industry? Consider signing a petition and telling Obama enough is enough! Click the link below to sign and find out how to get involved...and consider sharing this post or the link below on Facebook.
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