Monsanto's Really needs to be STOPPED HELP

[mean mr.mustard]

Farmers in South Africa have reported an inexplicable failure to seed in three different varieties of corn genetically modified (GM) by the Monsanto Corporation.

"One can't see from the outside whether a plant is unseeded," said Kobus van Coller of Free State province. "One must open up the cob leaves to establish the problem."

The problems occurred only in corn engineered by Monsanto for increased yields or for resistance to the company's trademark herbicide, Roundup (glyphosate). Failure to seed has been documented in the provinces of Free State, Mpumalanga and North West.

According to Monsanto, the crop failure occurred due to "underfertilization processes in the laboratory," and has only been a problem in "less than 25 percent" of the seed from the three corn varieties.

Marian Mayet of the Africa Center for Biosecurity disputed the company's claims, however. According to her sources, some farms have experienced crop failures as high as 80 percent. She also expressed doubt over Monsanto's explanation for the problem, laying the blame instead on the GM technologies used to produce the seed.

"Monsanto says they just made a mistake in the laboratory, however we say that biotechnology is a failure," Mayet said. "You cannot make a 'mistake' with three different varieties of corn. We have been warning against GM-technology for years, we have been warning Monsanto that there will be problems."

Mayet called on the government to launch an investigation into the crop failures and to institute an immediate ban on the cultivation of all GM crops in South Africa.

South Africa was one of the first countries after the United States to adopt GM corn. Like the United States but unlike many European countries, South Africa does not require that GM ingredients be labeled as such on food packaging.

The South African grocery chain Woolworths imposed a ban on carrying any GM foods in 2000.

LOL - I speak of the myth that has found it's way into cultural lore.

Since most children like to visualize, this seems the easiest for many here.

Damnit MM - now you've gone and confused the kids.

You like Roundup... you should have probably just left it at that.

What myths are you speaking of?

The only point I'm making is Monsanto sucks, their methods suck, regardless of ideals (which I personally find questionable).

Why is it you think that Frankenfoods are safe or Monsanto's methods are sound?

It seems that genetic tampering is theoretically a "shortcut", used as an alternative towards traditional breeding. Do you think traditional breeding should now be dismissed due to the recent discovery of GMO?

Your whining lacks substance sir.

 

[elmanito]

U.S. looks to Monsanto to feed the world
Wed, 2011-02-02

At the annual World Economic Forum this past weekend in Davos, Switzerland, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Director Rajiv Shah stood beside CEOs from Monsanto and other infamous giant corporations, and announced U.S. support for a “New Vision for Agriculture.”

Yes, you should be worried.

Claiming that “large-scale private sector partnerships [can] achieve significant impact on global hunger and nutrition,” Shah introduced the initiative’s 17 agribusiness “champions”: Archer Daniels Midland, BASF, Bunge Limited, Cargill, Coca-Cola, DuPont, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Metro AG, Monsanto Company, Nestlé, PepsiCo, SABMiller, Syngenta, Unilever, Wal-Mart, and Yara International.

Feeding the corporations

The plan, USAID tells us, is for the U.S. to leverage private sector investments for agricultural “growth,” using our taxpayer dollars through Obama’s Feed the Future initiative. Back in September, I wrote about the corporate Trojan Horse lurking within Feed the Future. There's always been some green window dressing scattered throughout the plan, claiming that the initiative will follow Southern country priorities, support gender equity, respect local and Indigenous knowledge, etc.

Back then, Rajiv Shah & Co. were making only thinly veiled references to the Initiative’s plan to “discover” and “deliver breakthrough technologies” (guess whose) to poor hapless farmers in the global South.

Now, however, USAID has abandoned all pretenses of respecting a people’s agenda, and baldly acknowledges that large-scale private sector partnerships with some of the world’s worst corporate actors lies at the core of Feed the Future. We are given the example of Feed the Future’s project in Tanzania, where an “investment blueprint” to establish "profitable, modern commercial farming and agribusiness" and designed to last for “years to come” has been set up with Monsanto, Syngenta, Yara and General Mills, among other multinational corporations. USAID “hopes to expand the blueprint in the future to at least five additional African countries.”

Not so hidden agenda

I think it’s no coincidence that this week’s bare-faced embrace of corporate solutions follows directly on Obama’s State of the Union speech. On that day, our president signaled clearly his intention to push neoliberal trade agreements and U.S. exports as the solution to our country’s woes. Never mind that fast-tracking trade liberalization has harmed, not helped, farmers and workers in the U.S. By restricting poor governments’ ability to manage domestic food production and supply, it also undermines efforts to strengthen global food and livelihood security. As the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy explains,Trade and food security policy should focus on rebuilding local food systems in the North and South. This does not mean abandoning trade or closing markets, but considering ways to ensure that trade complements, rather than substitutes for, local food production.

Unfortunately, the Administration's approach to internationalism looks more like this: If a country hesitates to import our products for their own reasons, we unleash sustained retaliatory measures, as revealed by the recent Wiki Leaks’ release of a U.S. plan to punish France and indeed the entire EU for France’s unwillingness to import U.S. GMO products:

Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory.

That’s how we deal with our European “allies.” But we target poor countries even more insidiously, especially when they are made vulnerable by devastating floods or earthquakes: we simply start pouring in agricultural inputs designed to get them onto the corporate industrial agriculture treadmill and thus crack open their markets.

Get 'em while they're down

In Pakistan, over 20 million were displaced and 2,000 people killed during last year’s massive floods, triggering an outpouring of aid in the form of massive amounts of industrial agricultural inputs. Is this aid helpful? Our sister organization, PAN Asia Pacific and local community groups say no.

With Bayer, BASF, Monsanto, Du Pont, Dow Chemical and Cargill among the long list of donors to Pakistan's rehabilitation, the suspicion is high that these companies can use the situation to get their GM seeds on the ground and make contamination a done deal.

“The destruction isn't over yet. A big threat looms in the way the government is rebuilding agriculture, in partnership with big agribusiness companies, in the flood-stricken areas of Pakistan,” says Azra Sayeed of Roots for Equity, a Karachi-based grassroots NGO that works with small and landless peasants in the flooded areas.

Similarly, Haitians have had to fight back to retain local control of resources, in the face of U.S. and Monsanto “earthquake aid” packages. As global food policy analyst Devinder Sharma wrote on Huffington Post, “Every global crisis provides an opportunity for business. Multinational giants are quick to grab it.”

Farmers have been saying loudly and clearly for quite some time that they don’t want corporations taking over their food systems. They want food sovereignty: control over their own food and farming decisions. Many of the solutions needed to feed the world fairly and sustainably will be showcased and debated next week at the people’s alternative to the World Economic Forum: the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal. Stay tuned.

Durood Bar Shoma

 

[harold]

I'm still waiting for one of you scared little children to post up some facts on how dangerous GM crops are.

All I read here is crap taken from the internet and magnified into stupidity by the scared uninformed lemmings herein.

All the while advances in farming and farm science will insure you dopes will still get to eat even if you don't understand how to feed yourself. I laugh at all the self proclaimed experts here who not only say they feed themselves with pure organically grown vegetables but are experts on seed issues also. Pretty much a self perpetuating bullshit society.

If the facts were stapled to your eyelid you still probably wouldnt see it.

The fact that you dont want to look into the horrors of GMO shows that you cant handle reality. Its those people that will deny it to the end that are too terrified of the truth.

You have to go beyond TV and science weekly if you want the real info.

 

[smrk]

In my eyes Monsanto looks far worst than Adolf.

I support GMO only to be tested, not pushed with force in our stomac.

while reading this thread got a felling that were already FU....

Not only food but all technology is going for the money(greed,power) not progress witch is sad and not cevilized, harmfull for our children, planet etc...

sorry for bad english.

 

[StinKyFinGerS]

Grapeman - all those terms like "approximately" "and appears to be" that scientists use and you call bullshit, if you knew anything about statistics and it's application you would understand the need for such 'qualifications'.

eg: 95% occurence, or 19 out of twenty times an event will occur, qualifies me to say I have some evidence that the event is more likely to occur than not. Not definate, not even strong evidence! Some, 19 out of twenty times according to the math based on the data...

Strong evidence is still not concrete, though the stats support it with 99% confidence. 99.7% confidence is still an approximation. If we studied every single farm or object under study, then we could say things absolutely. Until then, we make the best estimate we can, given the available data.

to add.... there is a huge difference between "correlation" and "causation". For scientists to use the words that have to do "causation" would mean that any scientist in the world can replicate that experiment and get the same exact results. yet outdoor crops cannot really be experimented due to environmental factors that cannot be controlled hence the "correlating" words being used. Longitudinal studies can be used but any type of lab experiments will be tough due to variences. If scientists were to use the words that refer to causation then the scientists themselves would be open to ridicule by their peirs "which" would decrease their credibility in the scientific community.
Ex...cigarettes "can" lead to cancer arguement.

 

[SacredTHCRitual]

its crazy how the seeds in your fruit and vegetables from the big stores wont even grow. These terminator seeds are terrible. If there is an enemy of the people, of humanity, this has to be it. Making it so people can't even grow their own food...in a sane society, one that was not so drugged up would be in outrage right now..

 

[elmanito]

I'm still waiting for one of you scared little children to post up some facts on how dangerous GM crops are.

Be my guest if you want to be a guinea pig for the next 10 years, as long as you stay healthy.Actually i'm not a kid that puts everything in my mouth without thinking what i'm putting in my mouth.

Fears grow as study shows genetically modified crops 'can cause liver and kidney damage'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1244824/Fears-grow-study-shows-genetically-modified-crops-cause-liver-kidney-damage.html#ixzz1D88uJBdk

Durood Bar Shoma

 

[Tr33]

its crazy how the seeds in your fruit and vegetables from the big stores wont even grow. These terminator seeds are terrible. If there is an enemy of the people, of humanity, this has to be it. Making it so people can't even grow their own food...in a sane society, one that was not so drugged up would be in outrage right now..

This is nothing new.
MOST, Store bought foods seeds will never germ.
It's been like this since the 40's.

to grow your own you must buy the seeds
like burpee or SeedBay

 

[generalgrievous]

Monsanto = the umbrella corporation

 

[whodare]

Making it so people can't even grow their own food...in a sane society, one that was not so drugged up would be in outrage right now..

it has more to do with people wanting the necessities taken care of for them so they can frolic about in their fantasy world were life is always handed to you on a platter... literally...

when people realize their lives aren't really theirs anymore eyes will begin to open... and the picthforks will come out.

 

[CFP65]

for anyone that needs to see what Monsanto and Synergenta is really all about
read up on the case Percy Schmeiser vs Monsanto

just google Percy Schmeiser

 

[ganjaherbs]

I can't believe so many people got trolled by Grapeman. It's rather obvious by the way he is posting that he is just trying to get a rise out of people rather than debate a point.

 

[Thomkal Vwalaa]

Just say NO to GMO music video,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnN6FFjZBZQ&feature=player_embedded

 

[trichrider]

there are "about" 2 proponents entered in 11 pages of posts.
that is "about" all that were willing to expose themselves (which is a good thing).
"perhaps" he was only just playing devils advocate, and picked the wrong side.

one "could" see his point, if it were to save humanitys suffering, a very noble cause.
but in failing to see where monsanto eventually owns food supply...well, wake up.

the spector of food riots, intentional withholding of seed for sowing, would make a mockery of any advances they "may" claim. the ease of genocide by monsanto gm food is guaranteed by it being the only available seed.

that's my 2 cents, i'll return for change.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

You like Roundup... you should have probably just left it at that.

What myths are you speaking of?

The only point I'm making is Monsanto sucks, their methods suck, regardless of ideals (which I personally find questionable).

Why is it you think that Frankenfoods are safe or Monsanto's methods are sound?

It seems that genetic tampering is theoretically a "shortcut", used as an alternative towards traditional breeding. Do you think traditional breeding should now be dismissed due to the recent discovery of GMO?

Your whining lacks substance sir.

Grapeman

I'm still waiting for these myths to be revealed.

Are you going to come back and play with the children... or are you going to at least act like an adult?

I don't mind discussion, and I really want to see you break us out of this "self perpetuating bullshit society".

 

[mriko]

10 Things Monsanto Does Not Want You to Know

By Millions Against Monsanto
Organic Consumers Association
Sunday, Feb 6, 2011

What’s wrong with Genetic Engineering?​

Genetic engineeringis a radical technology that breaks down genetic barriers between humans, plants and animals. Once released, these genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can easily spread and interbreed with other organisms, and they are virtually impossible to recall back to the laboratory.

Monsanto provides roughly 90% of GMO seeds in the world. These seeds have been genetically modified to produce their own pesticide or survive repeated spraying of their toxic herbicide Roundup. Monsanto’s GMOs are not designed to increase yields to feed the world, but rather to increase Monsanto’s profits by increasing the use of chemicals such as Roundup and selling their high-priced patented seeds which farmers must buy every year.

Due to the enormous political clout of Monsanto, the American public is being denied the right to know whether their foods are genetically engineered or not. Following is a list of 10 facts about Monsanto and GMOs, and how they can adversely affect your health, local farmers, and the planet.

1 No GMO Labeling Laws in the US

Foods containing GMOs don’t have to be labeled in the US. Monsanto has fought hard to prevent labeling laws. This is alarming, since approximately 70% of processed foods in the US now contain GMO ingredients. The European Union, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and many other nations now require mandatory GMO labeling.

2 Lack of Adequate Safety Testing

In May 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle announced the FDA’s anti consumer right-to-know policy which stated that GMO foods need not be labeled nor safety-tested. Meanwhile, prominent scientists such as Arpad Pusztai and Gilles-Eric Seralini have publicized alarming research revealing severe damage to animals fed GMO foods.

3 Monsanto Puts Small Farmers out of Business

Percy Schmeiser is a Canadian farmer whose canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready Canola by pollen from a nearby GMO farm. Monsanto successfully argued in a lawsuit that Schmeiser violated their patent rights, and forced Schmeiser to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. This type of biotech bullying is happening all over North America.

4 Monsanto Products Pollute the Developing World

Monsanto’s deadly legacy includes the production of Agent Orange and DDT. Now massive aerial spraying of Roundup in Colombia is being used by the US and the Colombian government as a counter-insurgency tactic, contaminating food crops and poisoning villagers.

5 Monsanto Blocking Government Regulations

A revolving door exists between Monsanto and US regulatory and judicial bodies making key decisions. Justice Clarence Thomas, a former Monsanto lawyer, was the one who wrote the majority opinion on a key Monsanto case. Michael Taylor once worked for the FDA, later represented Monsanto as a lawyer, then returned as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Policy when rBGH was granted approval.

6 Monsanto Guilty of False Advertising

France’s highest court ruled in 2009 that Monsanto had lied about the safety of its weed killer Roundup. The court confirmed an earlier judgment that Monsanto had falsely advertised its herbicide as “biodegradable”.

7 Consumers Reject Bovine Growth Hormone

In the wake of mass consumer pressure, major retailers such as Safeway, Publix, Wal-Mart, and Kroger banned store brand milk products containing Monsanto’s controversial genetically engineered hormone rBGH. Starbucks, under pressure from the OCA and our allies, has likewise banned rBGH milk.

8 GMO Crops Do Not Increase Yields

A major UN/World Bank-sponsored report compiled by 400 scientists and endorsed by 58 countries concluded that GM crops have little to offer to the challenges of poverty, hunger, and climate change. Better alternatives are available, and the report championed organic farming as the sustainable way forward for developing countries.

9 Monsanto Controls US Soy Market

In 1996, when Monsanto began selling Roundup Ready soybeans, only 2% of soybeans in the US contained their patented gene. By 2008, over 90% of soybeans in the US contained Monsanto’s gene.

10 GMO Foods May Lead to Food Allergies

In March 1999, UK researchers at the York Laboratory were alarmed to discover that reactions to soy had skyrocketed by 50% over the previous year. Genetically modified soy had recently entered the UK from US imports and the soy used in the study was largely GM.


From : http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62194.shtml

Irie !

 

[grapeman]

there are "about" 2 proponents entered in 11 pages of posts.
that is "about" all that were willing to expose themselves (which is a good thing).
"perhaps" he was only just playing devils advocate, and picked the wrong side.

one "could" see his point, if it were to save humanitys suffering, a very noble cause.
but in failing to see where monsanto eventually owns food supply...well, wake up.

the spector of food riots, intentional withholding of seed for sowing, would make a mockery of any advances they "may" claim. the ease of genocide by monsanto gm food is guaranteed by it being the only available seed.

that's my 2 cents, i'll return for change.

Truthfully there is no trolling here. A bit of food history would be advised for many high minded folks here. People are living longer, eating healthier and can walk into any corner market and purchase anything from a banana to a bag of grapes in the dead of winter. Or eating food without dying or getting food poisoning. Or eating products that are higher in vitamins then the same product 30 years ago, thereby enhancing our lives.

I truly marvel at the fact that despite many political and geographic obstacles, farmers, distributors and scientists find a way to deliver food at some level to over 6 billion people each and every day.

Yet many here think it sexy, smart and hip to remove science from this equation. In fact, that is flat stupidity.

Overlooked by most organic hippies is the bold fact that GM reduces pesticide use, reduces fertilizer use, reduces water use, makes basic food products healthier and allows distributors to deliver a product that is not spoiled to the far reaches of the globe.

It's one thing to get high and dream of the evils of capitalism or how your backyard can feed the world, but the latter ain't happening and you children need to grow the fuck up.

The collaboration of ag & science is saving humanity. You folks are either too high or too stupid to see what's in front of your face. Walk into any supermarket, look at everything on all the shelves and tell me I'm wrong.

I said it in the beginning of this thread. Calories are so cheap today that it allows folks to pursue other interests.... such as wasting your time growing cannabis and blogging about it instead of spending most of your waking hours growing and preparing food for today and the upcoming winter. Which was the way of life just 100 short years ago. Just a sample of how science has improved our food below.


http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.c...-waiter-theres-a-physicist-in-my-soup-part-i/

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.c...aiter-theres-a-physicist-in-my-soup-part-2-2/

 

[elmanito]

Overlooked by most organic hippies is the bold fact that GM reduces pesticide use, reduces fertilizer use, makes basic food products healthier and allows distributors to deliver a product that is not spoiled to the far reaches of the globe.

Learn your facts mate!

Bt cotton has failed admits Monsanto

Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality in Hamsters

Durood Bar Shoma

 

[mean mr.mustard]

Truthfully there is no trolling here. A bit of food history would be advised for many high minded folks here. People are living longer, eating healthier and can walk into any corner market and purchase anything from a banana to a bag of grapes in the dead of winter.

I truly marvel at the fact that despite many political and geographic obstacles, farmers, distributors and scientists find a way to deliver food at some level to over 6 billion people each and every day.

Yet many here think it sexy, smart and hip to remove science from this equation. In fact, that is flat stupidity.

Overlooked by most organic hippies is the bold fact that GM reduces pesticide use, reduces fertilizer use, makes basic food products healthier and allows distributors to deliver a product that is not spoiled to the far reaches of the globe.

It's one thing to get high and dream of how your backyard can feed the world, but that ain't happening and you children need to grow the fuck up.

Grapes grow in South America in the winter... during their summer... you don't have to genetically modify grapes to be able to have them during our winter.

People are NOT eating healthier. In fact we have never been fatter. We are not healthy by a long shot. The nutrition of today's vegetables isn't nearly what it was fifty years ago. I marvel at the fact that you think those 6 billion do nothing to feed themselves. I marvel at the fact that you might think it best for one company to provide for those providers wondrous tools.

Removing science from the equation? Let's use a little bit shall we?

GM doesn't reduce herbicide use... look at Roundup Ready varieties... they want you to spray your fields with Roundup.

Bt cotton doesn't require pesticides but it certainly does need fertilizer... in vast quantities.

Basic food products are made healthier by GM?
I'm sure you are aware this is "flat stupidity".

Distribution to the far reaches of the globe doesn't seem necessary... but I guess it's nice if you think you need to... but that seems a little bit like getting high and thinking you can feed those far reaches of the globe with our backyard.

Just like you grapeman... I'm all grown up... and set in my ways

 

[Microbeman]

Truthfully there is no trolling here. A bit of food history would be advised for many high minded folks here. People are living longer, eating healthier and can walk into any corner market and purchase anything from a banana to a bag of grapes in the dead of winter.

I truly marvel at the fact that despite many political and geographic obstacles, farmers, distributors and scientists find a way to deliver food at some level to over 6 billion people each and every day.

Yet many here think it sexy, smart and hip to remove science from this equation. In fact, that is flat stupidity.

Overlooked by most organic hippies is the bold fact that GM reduces pesticide use, reduces fertilizer use, makes basic food products healthier and allows distributors to deliver a product that is not spoiled to the far reaches of the globe.

It's one thing to get high and dream of how your backyard can feed the world, but that ain't happening and you children need to grow the fuck up.

The one problem with this assertion is that there is advanced research and horticultural endeavors which use even less inputs than GM X Monsanto type growing, which is based on the microbial nutrient loop. {e.g. utilizing the nutrient exchange that puts on mass in a forest; the incredible discovery of Terra Preta beds, etc} This research and method is being resisted by Monsanto type companies, however I have no doubt they will take it over one day as it continues to overcome and grow. There are many natural growing (uberorganic) methods which are not permitted in a certified organic program, one reason I gave up our certification years ago. One of these is compost tea. I view the overpriced certified organic section of the supermarket with similar disdain to your's. It is a better choice but ridiculous to be so expensive.

As far as actually feeding people on the planet there is one method which is obviously the premier choice. That is aquaponics; where both harvestable fish and crops are grown, utilizing the fish effluent/microbes to feed soil and soil/plants to purify water and crop residue to feed fish (the feed not being self sustaining). This is applicable anywhere that irrigation is used.

One question: Why are the richest people in the world investing in heritage seeds?

Mean Mr Mustard; The myth Grapeman referred to was the lemmings myth.