I recently watched a documentary titled, "The World According to Monsanto," recommended by a friend. The link is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3OedIuaZto
If you need any more reasons to be distrustful (or down right enraged, dismayed, downtroddened, etc.) of the government-corporate-media totalitarian regime, see for yourself. And if you are like me and despise the unbelievable comment that people all over the United States still genuinely believe, that "industrialized farming is feeding the people of the world," this will give you a complete picture of that 100% lie that started with the company of Monsanto itself.
For starters, it's important for every single citizen of this country to be aware that government officials often cycle in and out of working for the government and in high positions of giant corporations, such as Monsanto. It's cited in the documentary related to the agri-business aspect of society, but it is pervasive in areas beyond this, such as the economic sector. High ranking Monsanto businessmen will end up in powerful positions serving the FDA, regulating health, food, agriculture and more. Here is a list to view some of these people and they are discussed more in detail in the documentary as well: http://www.purefood.org/Monsanto/revolvedoor.cfm To think that these people have no agenda but to serve the best interests of people of our country, is to be a blind fool.
Many people in this country today have a faith in the government that is completely off base. The classification of GMO foods by the FDA as "substantially equivalent" is the perfect example. The people of the United States do not view governmental policies with a critical eye. This is largely due to the fact that contrary scientific evidence often results in the firing, discrediting and downplaying of the brave soul who exposes evidence in contradiction to the company's goals and thereby, profits. There are many accounts in the documentary.
There are also numerous studies done suggesting that GMO's are not at all similar to a naturally bred seed and the resulting plant. For example, when rats were given GM potatoes, there was a noted increased immune response as well as an increase in cell division, showing clearly that their bodies recognized these GM potatoes not as food, but as foreign, possibly harmful items. The second response, the scientist commented, does not indicate directly cancerous cells, but that is only because it takes 30+ years for the cancer to develop.
Monsanto manages to gloss over real research in search of just enough vague data to fool the masses, or at least not make them curious enough to investigate on the wide scale. One example from the film was a study published by Monsanto attempting to "prove" that GMO's were "substantially equivalent" to naturally bred plant varieties, but within the study, there are countless vague, poorly worded and moreover completely inconclusive statements, such as "except for the darker brown color, livers appeared normal at necropsy." The scientist commenting on this, made the obvious statement that this is not enough investigation to be considered a legitimate study. All it takes is a critical mind to look at this sentence and say, "why?" So why not answer the "why?" It should be obvious that answering all the "why's" and holes in the Monsanto research would prove every premise false. The Round Up product, Monsanto's claim to fame, was initially advertised as biodegradable, safe, and even "good for the environment." All these claims have been taken off the labeling now, but the same mentality exists and the same manipulation of the facts continues.
Then there is the issue of patent genes. Monsanto is developing a worldwide monopoly over seed sales. The account of farmers from India to Paraguay to Mexico are heart wrenching. In India, the seed sales are now almost completely controlled by Monsanto. The seeds are 4 times the cost and cannot be saved or replanted, as traditional farming methods have done since the dawn of agriculture. This means, if there is a bad year due to weather or uncontrollable and unpredictable factors, the farmers lose everything and declare bankruptcy. There has been a sharp rise in suicides of cotton farmers in India who have been forced into this and have experienced this unrecoverable fate.
In Mexico, due to the NAFTA trade agreement, cheap, American GM corn has been imported and now comprises about 40% of the corn sales, and comes at half the cost to consumers. Although Mexico had not yet allowed Monsanto to enter directly, the corn being imported has spread the patented genes randomly into fields, from a dropped kernel here and there. Some Mexican farmers are trying desperately to keep these new genes out of their higher quality fields that have been bred through generations of honest farming. These modified genes have a high capacity to spread and overtake a plant variety and it is already happening in a big way. One threat is that Monsanto can come in and claim these crops as their own, since the seed has been patented, and destroy farmers lives in this way. On the wider scale, the threat is to plant diversity, which is already being reduced by cross pollination and spreading of these GM plants. And to imagine the implications of the spreading of these GM plants is nothing short of mind blowing.
In Paraguay, 70% of farmland is now owned by 2% of the population, 75% of which are foreigners trying to capitalize on the economic opportunity. The various farmers' accounts in the film demonstrate clearly that these methods of industrialized farming are doing the opposite of feeding the world, but instead causing more death, destruction, dependence, poverty and starvation than before. Communities and families are destroyed. Lives ruined. Suffering abounds. And the lies, lies, lies that Monsanto and the government alike are feeding us, continue to blind us of these truths.
