Monsanto March

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 12:11pm

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 12:15pm

[tazber]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 1:17pm

This whole thing has me perplexed. How can the FDA not get involved?

How can Monsanto not be held accountable?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 1:37pm

Wow, that list doesn't leave much to purchase, does it?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 3:10pm

I have a new app that helps with all of this. It's called BUYCOTT. It's a fantastic way to know where your money is going. You just enter the causes that you support or don't support, and then when you scan the bar code on an item, it will tell you if it conflicts with your causes.

I am now not buying a lot of products, because so many of these companies are donating millions of dollars to not have GMO products labeled as such.

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 3:27pm

>> How can Monsanto not be held accountable?

Because Monsanto has spent a lot of money to ensure that laws were created that protect their interests. There's nothing to be held accountable for.

If there is a farmer's soybean field near a Monsanto field, and the wind blows pollen from the Monsanto field into the neighboring field, which pollinates the farmer's crop, Monsanto can (and most likely WILL) sue the farmer.

Monsanto will claim that the resulting farmer's crop was grown using Monsanto's "intellectual property" (because they have developed and patented their genetically engineered soybean). It does not matter that wind, or bees or any other natural form of pollination occurred in the process. Monsanto will sue the smaller farmer and win.

The farmer cannot sue Monsanto for "contaminating" his crop, however. Monsanto will keep the case in court until the farmer no longer has the monetary means to keep fighting.

Either way, Monsanto will ruin the farmer. They have the money, so they have the control to buy the legal means to do whatever they want - including patenting "life" (literally).
Updated On: 5/26/13 at 03:27 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 3:33pm

Only in America though...

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/29/13 at 11:09pm

If a major corporation like Ben & Jerry's can make the switch to non-GMO's, so can other corporations.

SUPPORT BEN & JERRYS!
Their statement on GMO's here

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/30/13 at 9:04am

>> If a major corporation like Ben & Jerry's can make the switch to non-GMO's, so can other corporations.

Yup.
But no one can force a company, corporation, etc. to be socially or morally conscious. "Can" is an option - not a requirement.

The GMO aspect is only one factor in a bigger picture. I think there's a larger issue of control and total ownership. It's as if Monsanto is playing the game Monopoly, and their goal is to win - to be in control of/own everything they set their sights on.

It seems clear that they did not set their sights on developing GMOs with an ultimate goal to benefit society or mankind. If that were the case, why litigate so aggressively, and ruin so many farmers? Why manipulate laws and the legal system to make it so difficult (for anyone - consumer or producer) to differentiate between what is or isn't a GMO?

Although I appreciate B&J's stance on GMOs, I don't necessarily applaud it. GMOs are not the problem, and in fact have potential to benefit the world's population, if incorporated WITHOUT the unbalanced emphasis on capitalistic motivation.

But it's those last two words that are causing problems. Updated On: 5/30/13 at 09:04 AM

[John Adams]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 3:39pm

Stephen Colbert did a piece last night on the recent issue of Monsato's GMO wheat:


Return of the Walking Bread Updated On: 6/6/13 at 03:39 PM

[jackieoh]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 8:23pm

I work at a health-food store and this Monsanto controversy is so endlessly frustrating. We will not knowingly carry a product that uses GMO's, but we constantly get the question 'is this GMO-free?' on things that are not made locally and perhaps not blatantly labeled. Then we're inclined to explain that with the money being spent so deviously in this industry, there is literally no way to tell if a company is using GMO's. Corn and wheat are risky no matter what brand you're buying from. There is just no way to know for sure.

Buy local!!

[SNAFU]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 9:20pm

I truly believe that the mystery of the declining bee population will trace back to GMOs.
These plants are being engineered to contain their own pesticide.

[capnkidd]

Posted: 6/9/13 at 1:53am

This company is pure evil - and I don't see any way they can be stopped. Doesn't mean we should stop trying.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/9/13 at 5:08am

My understanding is that there is basically no real corn left in the US. The same people who bitch about illegal immigrant workers don't want to think about the fact that it's the GMO corn, which grows like 10x more plentiful, that put the Mexican corn farmer out of business, forcing him to seek work elsewhere.