Week 9 - Monsanto & GMOs

After watching the Canadian documentary The World According to Monsanto it is clear to me that Monsanto, a multi-national corporation located in the USA is in the business of controlling food. The evidence brought by this movie is outstanding and horrifying at the same time. Its seems there is a revolving door between Monsanto and the FDA. Employees of Monsanto have worked for the FDA and just the opposite. GMOs or Biotechnology requires no additional regulations. Food colouring and preservatives do have requirements and regulations by the FDA, but not genetically modified plants.

Monsanto's Poor Past
Monsanto was originally a chemical company that recently got into agriculture and is now the leader in GMOs. Monsanto is responsible for such products as:

• Bovine Growth Hormone or (rBGH)


• DDT


• Agent Orange


• PCBs


• Aspartame


• Various coolants and lubricants now band.

These products alone have caused deaths, heart ache, financial lose and epidemics. So should Agriculture Canada and Canadian farmers follow the FDA approach and allow GMOs without third party testing and regulations?

In India, Monsanto is buying up all the conventional cotton producers to eliminate conventional seed and sell their genetically modified cotton called BT cotton for less money. Farmers at first think this is a good idea because conventional seed has become more rare and therefore more expensive and the new Monsanto cotton seed is cheaper has lots of great promises like resistant to certain worm that kills cotton plants. However, once these farmers start to produce BT cotton they soon learn this was a bad choice. To keep the crops yield viable BT cotton costs expensive fertilizers and herbicides which the farmers cannot afford. The loan prices to obtain these additional tools are putting farmers at risk, especially if they get poor yields. Suicide rates in India are on the rise. Conventional seeds are scarce and BT cotton has now dominated the market. The BT cotton has become weak, and the bark is less resistant to pests which is also troubling for struggling farmers in India. A protest has occurred where Indian farmers have pledged to stop growing BT cotton. BT cotton has become a disaster for Indian farmers.

In Mexico, Corn farmers have voted against using genetically modified corn from Monsanto. However because of the free trade agreement, GM corn can be sold in Mexico but not grown. This is allowed contamination of GM corn to conventional corn. Mexican farmers are finding deformed corn within their crops. It is believed that dropped kernels from the market along dirt roadsides have allowed the GM crop to spread. A single GM corn plant can cross-contaminate to conventional Mexican corn because of the wind blown cross pollination. Studies have shown, corn with injected GM proteins have resulted in deformity. GM corn in markets is much cheaper than conventional corn and this targets poorer people of Mexico. If GM corn spreads, conventional corn varieties can disappear. Its seems that even when Monsantos products is banned, the plant itself finds away to dominate the land and the market.

In Paraguay, cross-contamination of conventional soy bean plants have become a major problem. Monsanto GM crops are legal in Argentina. Those GM crops have spread to other South American countries like Brazil and Paraguay. There is so much contamination by GM crops in Paraguay that the country had to legalize GMOs after the damage had already begun. Europe is a large importer of soy beans from Paraguay for livestock feed. However, European Union requires all GMOs be labeled. Therefore Paraguay had no other choice, in order to save its major export to Europe.

Farmer in Paraguay have suffered from this contamination in many ways. Roundup Ready soy Beans from Monsanto not only spread to conventional soybeans making them extinct but are causing added expenses with Roundup herbicides and additional fertilizers as seen in India. More tragic is the effects of Roundup on the local people making them sick with severe skin rashes/diseases. Roundup sprayed on fields is getting into drinking water and killing livestock. Farmers are not able to grow their own food because Roundup kills all plants that are not GM soybeans.

This is all very frightening, considering the obvious intention of controlling food. Farmerless farming and patenting of GM seeds while Monsanto monopolizes conventional seeds companies. They are removing the right to feed oneself through conventional means and providing a dependent product which has added costs and severe health problems.

I hope Agriculture and Health Canada do not allow GMOs or any products from Monsanto. Monsanto had demonstrated numerous times its disregard for the well being of humans and the environment.

Do your part, don't use Roundup for your on safety and for the future of others including the environment. As a consumer you have responsibility for the products you buy.

Green Collar