Monsanity

By Ralphael Prepetit

Monsanto is American multinational chemical, and agricultural biotechnology corporation headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. It is a leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) seed and of the herbicide glyphosate, which it markets under the Roundup brand. (Wikipedia) The reason that this company in particular is at the forefront of the firestorm against genetically engineered food seeds and agricultural products is that they are on a mission to put family farms out of business. They are notorious for their aggressive patent infringement lawsuits, which many farmers simply can't afford to fight long term. In simpler terms they create what people call 'Frankenstein' seeds.

This is genetically modified food that has been invading our nation's food source since 1987. There is much controversy as to the overall safety of these foods, with many people and groups, including 'Millions Against Monsanto by OrganicConsumers.org' claiming that it is in effect poisoning our food supply.

They have not been adequately tested to conclude wether or not they are safe for human consumption. In fact, many scientists have reviewed data from Monsanto's own internal studies and "have proven that genetically engineered foods are neither sufficiently healthy or proper to be commercialized." (Truth-Out.org) In short, this GE food is NOT the same as organic food, not at all. So why is Monsanto allowed to continue to produce foods that are arguably not safe for consumption? Well, it seems that in addition to the fact that this is a very wealthy multi-national conglomerate, they also have friends in very high places in the United States government, including the all important FDA, who as the foremost authority on the health of our food, has really not been aggressive in dealing with Monsanto. In fact, many would argue that they are secretly working in concert as part of a 'trillion dollar hustle' (Info-Wars) on the American family. All of this would be bad enough, but consider this, Monsanto aggressively sues normal farmers for copyright infringement if ANY of their modified pollen or seed gets blown by the wind onto an otherwise innocent farmers land and takes root. Seeds and pollen that organic farmers in NO WAY want on their land. What can they do? Farmer's can't control the wind can they? Monsanto doesn't care. They send representatives onto organic farmer's land, illegally mind you, and take samples of what they think might be plants that have been contaminated with their 'Frankenstein' seed and/or pollen, back to their labs for testing. If they find their 'Franken-seed' in it, they sue the farmer. How crazy is that?

It gets worse. The farmers try and fight back, but in lawsuit after lawsuit, their cases are thrown out of court. This is a complex issue to be sure, but at the root of it is the greed and monomaniacal business ethics of Monsanto. In 2012 there was a ballot initiative in California to force companies to label GMO foods. That initiative did not pass. It seems that many in the big food industry complex are not keen on that sort of thing, and as a result they spent tens of millions of dollars on a publicity campaign to stop it. Big corporate money at work again in our body politic. As I research this issue, I can honestly say that there is a great deal that still needs to be known about GMO foods and their relation to our public health. What I do know for certain, is that it makes ALL the sense in the world to at the very least LABEL these foods so that the consumer, you and I, can make our own informed choices as to what we feed ourselves, and our families alike. After all we are talking about our food, it's kind of important wouldn't you say? Call/write/email/carrier pigeon/ your elected officials and ask them what they plan on doing about this issue. I don't want to sound morose here, but your lives quite literally could be at stake.

Thanks For Reading.