Anti-Monsanto Activism

by Stephen Lendman

Monsanto perhaps is the world's most hated corporation. Considering the competition, it's not easy taking top honors.

GMO foods and ingredients are toxic. They're unsafe to eat. They're hazardous to human health. They should be banned. Monsanto's the leading producer.

GMOs poison people for profit. Independent studies explain. Agribusiness giants want all animal and vegetable life forms patented.

They want worldwide food control. Getting it means everything produced for human consumption won't be safe to eat. Last May, tens of thousands of people marched against Monsanto.

They did so in dozens of countries worldwide. They want consumer protections enacted. They want safe food to eat.

They want governments assuring it. They want GMO foods and ingredients labeled. Ideally they want them banned.

Former Monsanto executives run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An obvious conflict of interest exists.

Independent FDA scientists warned repeatedly. GMO foods and ingredients have harmful side effects. They compromise human health.

Sheep, buffalo and goats in India died after grazing on Bt cotton plants. Mice eating GMO corn had fewer, smaller babies.

Over half the newborns of mother rats fed GMO soy died in three weeks. Testicle cells of mice and rats on GMO soy change significantly.

Third generation GMO soy-fed hamsters can't reproduce. Rodents fed GMO corn and soy showed harmful immune system responses and signs of toxicity.

After GMO soy was introduced in Britain, allergies increased by 50%. Stomach linings of rats fed GMO potatoes showed excessive cell growth. Doing so risks cancer.

Animals fed GMO foods showed organ lesions, altered liver and pancreas cells, changed enzyme levels, and other disturbing mutations.

New drugs require safety evaluations. GMO foods undergo no human clinical trials. The only published human feeding experiment was disturbing.

It showed consumed GMO genetic material continues functioning intestinally. Doing so risks super diseases. They're resistant to antibiotics.

If the gene creating GMO corn Bt-toxin transfers, intestinal bacteria could become living pesticide factories.

Recent studies show GMO corn damages liver and kidneys. Monsanto's Roundup herbicide causes birth defects. GMO soy consumption risks sterility.

Everyone deserves safe foods and ingredients. October 12 is "March Against Monsanto" day. Millions in over 50 countries are participating.

An MAM press release states:

Millions once again are marching. They're "calling for the permanent boycott of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and other harmful agro-chemicals."

"Currently, marches will occur on six continents, in 52 countries, with events in over 400 cities."

"In the US, solidarity marches are slated (for) 47 states." MAM lists global events.

US ones are ongoing in dozens of large and small cities nationwide. So are Canadian marches. Get out and join one.

Tami Monroe Canal founded MAM. She did so to protect her two daughters, saying:

"Monsanto's predatory business and corporate agricultural practices threatens their generation's health, fertility and longevity."

"MAM supports a sustainable food production system. We must act now to stop GMOs and harmful pesticides."

GMO foods and ingredients harm human health. Longterm, independent, peer-reviewed studies weren't conducted before introducing them for human and animal consumption.

In America, Monsanto executives control FDA and EPA policy. Millions were spent obstructing labeling attempts.

Adverse research results are suppressed. Monsanto Protection Act legislation circumvents judicial decisions.

If courts rule GMOs unsafe, Monsanto's free to ignore them. So is the Secretary of Agriculture.

The law permits "continued cultivation, commercialization, and other specifically enumerated activities." It does so regardless of potential harm to human health.

Scientifically established risks include (but aren't limited to) organ damage, sterility, infant mortality, birth defects, auto-immune conditions, allergies and susceptibility to cancer.

Despite partially or entirely banning GMOs in 10 European countries, Japan and elsewhere, factory farm animals globally consume them.

Biotechnology isn't the answer to world hunger. GMOs cause soil infertility, mono-cropping, loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction, and beehives collapsing.

A 2003 "Case for A GM-Free Sustainable World" said:

(1) GMOs "failed to deliver promised benefits."

(2) They pose escalating farm problems.

(3) They're responsible for extensive transgenic contamination.

(4) They're unsafe to eat.

(5) "GM food raises serious safety concerns."

(6) "Dangerous gene products are incorporated into crops."

(7) "Terminator crops spread male sterility."

(8) "Broad-spectrum herbicides (are) highly toxic to humans and other species."

(9) "Genetic engineering creates super-viruses."

(10) "Transgenic DNA in food" ends up in soil bacteria and human intestines.

(11) Transgenic DNA is linked to cancer.

(12) The "CaMV 35S promoter (is prone to) horizontal gene transfer and recombination."

(13) Misrepresentation and scientific evidence suppression defines agribusiness practice.

A 2013 "Ban GMOs Now" report states:

GMO proliferation "needs to be reversed as quickly as possible, particularly as GM agriculture is failing on all counts."

"That can only be achieved by a ban on GMOs, an action already taken by countries and local communities around the world."

"We need to join forces with them, to put an end to the GM corporate empire."

GMO agriculture assures disaster. People deserve safe foods and ingredients.

"Future generations will not forgive us if we do not stop the GM takeover now." Compelling evidence explains why.

A Final Comment

The World Food Prize is called "the foremost international award recognizing achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world."

It "emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people."

It "honor(s) those who have worked successfully for this goal."

Three 2013 recipients were chosen. They include Monsanto executive vice president Robert Fraley, biotech giant Syngenta founder Mary Dell Chilton, and European Federation of Biotechnology president Marc Van Montagu."

Entrepreneur John Ruan sponsored the World Food Prize. His son (John III) succeeded him as chairman. Former State Department official Kenneth M. Quinn serves as president.

Perhaps they believe "nutritious and sustainable food" doesn't have to be safe. Maybe they think poisoning people for profit is OK.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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