Monsanto: Controlling the World One Seed at a Time

I have long known about the questionable practices that Monsanto has been involved in, but I just chalked it up to the typical lobbying and corrupt practices that are common place in U.S. politics. It wasn't until reading the recent barrage of information and watching documentaries posted by a friend on Facebook that I really knew the depth and severity of the situation. What I have learned in the meantime has been appalling to say the least. There is growing unrest the more people learn about companies like Monsanto, Enron, AIG, Lehman Brothers etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on. Check out this brief list. People all over the world have been affected by corporate greed and corruption, but it has reached epidemic levels. Not only are our finances in jeopardy, but our health is at risk as well.

The Occupy Wall Street movement started in reaction to the financial meltdown triggered by unethical and illegal practices in the financial industry. Frustration mounted as people began to lose jobs and houses while the corporate elite continued to rake in large amounts of money. Fraudulent practices occurred and people were not held accountable. Many of these corporations acted like organized crime and the people at the top often maintained a buffer of underlings. The foot soldiers were forging names and documents to keep money coming in. Ridiculous! I am not against free enterprise or capitalism in any way. I love the system. What I am against is corrupt practices and I am against the government practice of protecting corporations before people. What is wrong with the world today?

The nonsense that has been going on in the financial industry is nothing compared to what is underhandedly going on in th efood industry. There has been a quiet war going on under the radar of most people. A war that has been going on for years with the support of the U.S. government. Steadily, Monsanto has been working to gain control of the global seed market. That may not sound like much, but consider the fact that Monsanto is a multi-billion dollar business. Remember that without seeds we cannot grow essential food. Monsanto seems to have a plan to control the seed supply and control food. How can they do that? Only with the support of governments around the world. Want to hear from the experts? Take some time to watch the documentary.

I have no problem with selectively breeding stronger strains to get crops that are more resistant to drought and disease. Maybe I am wrong, but to me that just seems to be like setting a person up on a date. Matching up one plant that has naturally adapted well to the environment with another. I'd like to hear from an expert though and of course I welcome opinion and comment on the matter. On the matter of genetically modifying organisms I've made my mind up. The process involves directly disrupting DNA. Monsanto likes to go in and add stuff to the DNA of plants that just doesn't belong. The biggest reason they do this seems to be so they can develop plants that are resistant to their highly toxic herbicide, Roundup. I don't know about you, but it scares me that I am consuming food that has plants with manipulated DNA and plants that are doused with a poison that is meant to kill all living things. Washing food can only do so much. It can wash the poison off, but can't get the poison out. Am I getting carried away?

As if it is not bad enough that Monsanto is messing with DNA, but it also claims patent rights to its genetically modified seeds and it appears to be defending those patents with their teams of high priced attack lawyers. They are trying to sue people for using seeds that are a derivative of their 'Frankenstein like' lab creations. Slowly and steadily these mutant forms are taking over crops in every part of the world and Monsanto, backed by the U.S. government, will likely go after farmers for royalties. The Frankenstein of the soy and corn world.

Why am I so pissed off? Why not. They are messing with my food. My choice is being taken away and now I have to eat this garbage and I do it unknowingly. i don't have the choice to say "I don't want to eat that crap" because nothing is labelled. Right now I am enjoying what I believe to be fresh and relatively natural produce in Argentina and I feel good. There is very little pesticide use here. The one bad thing though is that the corn and soy bean crops are largely GMO products. I can't speak of the soy beans, but I can tell you the corn sucks. It's not like the fresh tasting, juicy sweet corn I get from the small farms in rural Ontario. The corn here is relatively dry, not very sweet and starchy. I don't want the rest of the veggies to turn out bad and possibly unhealthy too. Sadly much of the beef is being fed this garbage now too instead of being allowed to graze on grass.

To end I would just like to say that I do invest in stocks and I believe that we need strong companies in order to keep our economies healthy and provide jobs. On the other hand I believe that companies should be socially responsible and that not everything should have a price.

While I take no responsibility for 3rd party sites, I think it is good to see what both sides are saying on any given issue. We know what main stream media tells us about the food we buy and we know that regulatory bodies tell us everything is OK, but here are some other thoughts. These are a few links to stories and opinions on Monsanto.

http://networkedblogs.com/uMPl8

http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Safety/gmo/gm_food_0110120735.html

http://www.percyschmeiser.com/misinformation.htm

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/genetics_modification/percyschmeiser.html

http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2012/01/2011-the-issues-a-lot-of-head-shaking-going-on/

http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/exposing-monsantos-financial-interest.html

https://www.facebook.com/exposingmonsanto