Occupy Monsanto

When RE, head admin and creator of the Doomstead Diner, asked me to write an article about the evils of Monsanto I was a bit confused by the request at first. "Aren't we just preachin' to the choir" I wanted to know. What am I going to write about that most people don't already know? Most of what I know is from documentary films such as Food Inc., a Michael Pollan book or two (as well as many other books), the occasional internet article, as well as the annual report generated straight from Hell. Haven't heard of that report? It's called the Earth Rape Newspeak Players Ball Report and it's discussed at the annual Newspeak Players Ball. This is the real purpose of the Bilderberger meeting every year. It's where the awards are handed out by Satan himself. Monsanto has won four out of the last 10 awards with Satan praising their use of the word sustainability. He took the time to point out (at last years Earth Rape) how wonderfully crafted and full of diverse and pure Newspeak Monsanto's "AboutUs" section of their website is:

 

At the heart of Monsanto is a very clear and principled code of conduct – one we expect all employees, contractors and management to live by every day. We operate under a genuine value system—our pledge—that demonstrates integrity, respect, ethical behavior, perspective and honesty as a foundation for everything we do.

A key part of fulfilling the promise of our value system is by engaging our communities in a significant and positive manner. Not only do we work hard to support the family farmer in a variety of ways, but we also:

• provide extensive educational programs – particularly in science and agriculture – for students around the world

• fund numerous research grants for graduate students

• work in partnership with government bodies, non-profit agencies and advocacy groups to make agriculture more sustainable"

While I'm at it, here's a video from Monsanto's website that might make you throw up a few times.

This type of write up makes me very angry. Newspeak makes me angry in general. But this is particularly pernicious Newspeak. Monsanto making agriculture more sustainable? Is that why 16,196 Indian farmers killed themselves in 2008, with over 15,000 suicides a year from 2002 to 2008 according to Wiki. These deaths are mainly due to Monsanto's BT cotton, but more to the point it's due to Monsanto's "sustainable" agriculture methods. Now, I study and practice permaculture methods, which are actually sustainable agriculture methods. Monsanto practices chemical mediated, genetically modified, monoculture. Sustainability with plants depends mostly on diversity. That's why in nature you don't see monocultures. You see thousands of different species of plants growing in a true melting pot of diversity.

Monsanto's agriculture is the opposite of sustainable. They move into a country and get the farmers (whom practice sustainable agriculture passed on through generations) to plant their GM seeds which will not grow without Monsanto's application of poisonous chemicals. So now the farmer is beholden to Monsanto to get their crops to grow. To add insult to injury the seeds are what are known as "terminator seeds" because subsequent generations of the plant are sterile and will not produce the next years crop. So the farmer must buy more seeds from Monsanto. By this time Monsanto has complete control of the farmer (and their land) since the farmer cannot afford to continue the charade without a hefty loan from the bank, which they will never be able to repay since they will never see a profit. No worries, cause Monsanto doesn't give two shits about the farmers and their human needs. They've got huge machines that run by satellite programming to do the job of the farmer. This is the real reason why there has been an epidemic of Indian farmers committing suicide over the last ten years. So I guess if farmers killing themselves, genetically modified terminator seeds, and numerous application of deadly poisons is sustainable than Monsanto has nailed it. So this is the "variety of ways" that Monsanto "supports the family farmer"? By making them debt slaves whom find it practical to hang themselves?

There are many evils associated with what Monsanto is doing, but to my estimation, the most evil thing they have attempted to do is to patent life itself. Percy Schmeiser, of Saskatchewan Canada, can tell you all about that. His story is pretty well known, but in 1998 Monsanto sued him for growing their patented GM canola seed. Now, he didn't grow their seeds, their seeds contaminated his 50 years of work cultivating an heirloom canola variety. That happened because nature has this amazing capacity to pollinate with pollinators. His fields got contaminated with Monsanto's bull shit and then Monsanto sued Schmeiser for growing their crop without permission (luckily they did not succeed). I guess maybe next Monsanto will try to take the birds and the Bees to court for cross pollinating their patented genetic modifications?  What's with the birds and bees anyways? Don't they know there is law to follow?  Damn nature and it's anarchic form of resilient life.

As far as genetically modifying natures design goes, this is what Monsanto has to say about that completely risk free practice: 

 There is no need to test the safety of DNA introduced into GM crops. DNA (and resulting RNA) is present in almost all foods. DNA is non-toxic and the presence of DNA, in and of itself, presents no hazard. 

 Indeed, no need to test the effects of splicing non-plant DNA into plants such as the "fish tomato" with it's winter flounder anitfreeze transgene spliced into it for better frost protection. Granted, this fish tomato was not brought to us by Monsanto, but their logic applies here, and they were the first company to apply genetic modification to food crops. There is no need to test whether or not this is a safe practice because "DNA is present in almost all foods" and DNA is "non-toxic." Right, so sign me up for a "fish tomato" sandwich with round up ready corn on the cob. While I'm at it, why not some genetically modified soy formula for my 3 month old with a BT Cotton onesie. Might as well get him ready for his diet of mostly poisonous food so that he can get a head start on being sick for the rest of his life. But hey, at least he won't be hungry while he's dying from cancer.

The last thing we need is more chemicals on planet Earth. Monsanto is in the business of making humanity even more dependent on chemicals. A quick google search for "pollution in the womb" uncovered this gem:

 

Umbilical cord blood from 10 babies was tested for 413 industrial chemicals and pollutants. The tests found an average of 200 of these chemicals in each newborn, and a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of the 10 babies harboured pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline and garbage. Some of the chemicals found in the cord blood are banned or severely restricted in the US.

Among the chemicals found were:
- eight perfluorochemicals used as stain and oil repellants in fast food packaging, clothes and textiles, including the Teflon chemical PFOA. PFOA was recently characterized as a likely human carcinogen.
- 21 organochloride pesticides.
- dozens of widely used brominated flame retardants (PBDEs) and their toxic by products, used in TVs, computers, foam and many other products. They are also found in some foods.

Of the 287 chemicals detected in the study, 180 are known to cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests.

I wonder how many of those organochloride pesticides are brought to us by Monsanto and their ilk? So we're going to Occupy Monsanto on September 17th. Everywhere. Not sure what my part will be short of writing this article. But maybe I'll put a sign up on the busy roadside in front of my house that says something like "Monsanto pollutes our wombs." Or "Monsanto causes cancer." Anything to bring attention to the evil that is being perpetuated in the name of profit by this ridiculous company and the food production philosophy they labor to cultivate. We don't need genetically modified foods in moncultures. It is not a sustainable practice. It is quite the opposite in fact. It causes more virulent and pesticide resistant pests for our food crops. It causes slaves to be made from simple farmers whom then kill themselves out of desperation. It causes humanity to ultimately be at the mercy of those who would seek to control all of our food for no other reason than profit via patents on plant DNA.

The question you have to ask yourself is do you want your food to be cheap, nutritionally deficient, and destructive to sustainable cultures throughout the world? Or do you want your food to be nutritious and produced using natural methods that mimic natures design while facilitating healthy human societies? We can do that as a species if we decide to. There is a lot stopping us from accomplishing the later goal, and Monsanto is behind a good bit of that reasoning. There is no reason why we can't produce all of the food we need as a species in a way that is regenerative, healthy, and supportive of all life systems involved in the ecology of food production. It's not a mystery. We know how to do it, and it does not require the use of man made chemicals that pollute the wombs of our unborn children, cause cancer, and convince simple farmers that killing themselves is a better option than remaining Monsanto slaves. We have the solutions. We can fix this mess. But we won't if you don't pull your head out of the sand and start paying attention to the evil's being perpetuated by corporations whom care about nothing but profit. And at the expense of the health of our planet and all of the species on it. We don't own the Earth, but we do share it with billions of other life forms, a healthy majority of which we are actively exterminating with the practices of our civilizations Big Agriculture headed up by the likes of Monsanto.