February 25, 2012

Greenpeace vs Monsanto – Battle over the World’s Food Supply

February 25, 2012. Bentonville, Ark. If you’ve never heard of the company Monsanto before, you truly are missing something historic. And since 90 percent or more of all US-grown corn, soybeans, canola and sugar beats are made from a version of Monsanto’s patented genetic modification, it’s safe to say every reader of this article is already eating the food-like substitutes that are banned in countries such as Ireland, Germany, Peru and more.

If Greenpeace and its partner Food & Water Watch have their way, the spread of genetically modified edible products will stop. Together, the groups have launched a petition targeting the world’s largest retailer – Walmart. Starting with the mainstay staple of American diets, the consumer advocates are petitioning the discount chain to pledge not to sell modified sweet corn. The groups have petitioned other grocery chains with arguable success. So far, some of the more well known stores that have promised not to sell genetically modified sweet corn are Trader Joes and Whole Foods. General Mills, a giant in the food manufacturing industry, has also pledged not to sell genetically modified corn.

Greenpeace and Food & Water Watch are asking consumers to send a message to Walmart and sign their petition. Their call to action explains, “Genetically engineered Monsanto sweet corn is approved and could be on your plate this year. Monsanto’s sweet corn could be planted this spring, but Walmart can refuse to accept it, protecting consumers from this untested and unlabeled product.”

To sign the online petition, click here.

The groups give three main reasons why Americans should sign the petition to reject Monsanto’s genetically modified food-like products at Walmart.

• Whether you shop at Walmart or not, they are the largest US food retailer, and if they won’t sell genetically engineered sweet corn, it’s likely that farmers won’t plant it.

• Genetically engineered sweet corn will not be labeled, so you won’t know what you’re buying.

• Monsanto’s GE sweet corn hasn’t been tested for human safety, and it contains three different genetically engineered traits that haven’t been used in food eaten directly by people.

That second point is still a sore spot for many grassroots consumer advocates. For the past two decades, Monsanto has been able to finance America’s elected officials enough that not only is it not required for manufacturers to label food as genetically modified, it’s actually illegal in some instances for safe products to promote the fact that they are not genetically modified.

Monsanto Corp. has never been known as a friend of humanity. According to a recent article in Before it’s News, Monsanto is the company that brought the world such products as Agent Orange, the super-toxin dioxin, recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), and of course, genetically modified food.

A quick search of recent Monsanto headlines shows the corporation hasn’t changed its business model. Like a real-world Doctor Evil, the company has somehow managed to take control of almost the entire world’s corn production. Only one country on Earth still has natural corn varieties not destroyed or infected by Monsanto’s laboratory-produced products. That country is the birthplace of corn – Mexico.

Read the 2011 Whiteout Press article, ‘Global Attacks on Genetically Modified Food Experiments’ to read about some of the underground efforts underway to stop Monsanto.

The secondary complaint typically leveled at Monsanto is that their so-called ‘franken-food’ has been genetically altered to be dominant over natural food. In corn fields the world over, Monsanto’s modified corn seeds spread to neighboring farms through natural methods like wind, rain and animals. There, they cross-breed with the natural corn fields, thus becoming Monsanto fields. The corporation has successfully sued thousands of unsuspecting farmers for allegedly ‘stealing’ Monsanto’s seeds.

Another Doctor Evil aspect of Monsanto’s modified products is the way they function and the reason for their perceived value. Monsanto produces the famed ‘Round-up’ pesticide and fertilizer line. The trick is that the genetically modified corn seeds, as well as the fertilizer and pesticides, have been altered to work in combination with each other. Without one component, none of them will work.

On a Monsanto-dependent farm, here’s how the process works.

• Monsanto produces genetically-modified corn seeds in their laboratory and sells them to farmers throughout the world.

• Special and unique Monsanto fertilizer is required to make the corn grow, where it grows much bigger and taller than natural corn, also without any natural imperfections. If you’ve ever bought a can of corn from the store, you’ve noticed how every kernel looks identical in size, shape and color. You’ll also notice the absence of any flavor. Corn manufacturers have been breeding their corn to turn out like that for years. Monsanto-altered corn now perfects that goal. Without Monsanto’s fertilizer, the Monsanto corn will wither and die.

• To protect the Monsanto corn from bugs, mold and other natural predators, farmers must buy and spray Monsanto pesticide. The chemical make-up of the company’s patented and ultra-deadly pesticide is such that it kills practically everything it touches, except Monsanto corn and human beings. The pesticides were specifically designed to have that unique effect.

The pay-off for Monsanto is the fact that all three stages of their products cost vastly more than any other seeds, fertilizer and pesticide on the market. But since Monsanto corn genes are dominant over natural corn, the result is that the world’s corn farmers are now slaves to Monsanto, unable to plant any other type of corn but theirs. Again, Mexico is the only nation left on Earth where natural, un-infected corn varieties still exist. And at the rate they’re vanishing, those fields and the dozens of rare and unique types of corn Mexico provides, will vanish as well.

In India alone, farmer suicides have reached epidemic proportions due to Monsanto. One major reason is that Indian farmers were forced to go into debt to be able afford the expensive Monsanto seeds and accompanying products. One small drop in corn prices or corn futures proved too much for the financially-strapped farmers. They’ve been committing suicide by the thousands for the last few years. Other Monsanto products are accused of being responsible for additional outbreaks of farmer suicides as well.

The website BestMeal.info published a scathing list titled, ’10 Facts You should Know about Monsanto’. Their list includes:

-No GMO labeling laws in the USA.            

-Lack of adequate FDA/USDA Safety Testing.

-Monsanto puts Small Farmers out of business. Farmer suicides after GMO crop failures.

-Monsanto products pollute the developing world, including 500,000 Agent Orange babies.

-Monsanto blocking government regulations.

-Monsanto guilty of false advertising and scientific fraud.

-Consumers reject Bovine Growth Hormone rBGH in milk.

-GMO crops do not increase yields.

-Monsanto controls US soy market.

-Monsanto’s GMO foods cause new food allergies.

Each of the above points provided by BestMeal.info links to a separate article on the group’s website. Whiteout Press invites its readers to check out the articles, as well as the vast amount of information available online, and decide for themselves. At some point, if mankind hasn’t reached it already, it may become too late to return back to consuming actual food. And if Monsanto has its way, that’s exactly what will happen.