A very good explanation of what GMO’s are and why we should all be concerned, straight from the heart of Monsanto headquarters, St. Louis. Don Fitz and his Green Time TV has two activists from St. Louis who have worked hard on educating people on the GMO issue.
St. Louis Occupy has worked hard developing Occupy Monstanto, which event in September will have many workshops to draw attention to the evils of GMO seeds. Monsanto has waged a near-terrorist campaign against farmers throughout the Midwest. Recently the farmers lost a suit filed against Monsanto in Missouri federal court on behalf of nearly 300,000 farmers, but they intend to press on. Of course, in the “socialist” country of Canada, where corporations don’t yet reign supreme, one farmer did in fact win against Monsanto.
As mentioned in the video above, Monsanto has worked to incorporate the popular pesticide, Roundup, into the DNA structure of plants. While the corporate rigged FDA has given a wink and nod to Monsanto on its Frankenstein GMO work, Roundup has its own set of problems.
Logo for crop-ready GMO Roundup soybeans.
Available at any home store, great on Dandelions and your genetic makeup!
As a large portion of the Midwest depends upon farming for their living, Monsanto’s push to own the agricultural business in the entire Midwest or even possibly globally presents a serious national autonomy and security risk. Throughout the Midwest, small-scale farming operations dwindle under the pressure of large-scale corporate operators. Indebtedness incurred through efforts to keep up with ever increasing yield pressures also hampers development of green and sustainable farming methods. While starving farmers apparently gives pop stars an opportunity to boost sales with fund-raiser events, they never challenge how capitalist practices have distorted the importance of a safe food supply and sustainable agricultural practices for national health and security.
Not Science Fiction – A Story of Corporate Charity
The perfect picture of the charity of Monsanto lies in the story of the East St. Louis plant that it built. In order to evade taxes from East St. Louis, the plant received the go-ahead from the state of Illinois to incorporate its land into a township called Sauget. Yes that’s right, its own town. Simply so it won’t have to pay East St. Louis one dime of property or any other tax. But that doesn’t stop East St. Louis from regularly spilling effluent into the streams that run into East St. Louis.
Sauget does not employ the impoverished residents of St. Louis as a matter of practice, instead its workers commute from outside of town. East St. Louis in one of the most impoverished cities in America. But executives, press and others usually think of this building when they think of Monsanto, the headquarters in the city of St. Louis.
Other good links about Monsanto:
One good thing to see is when major companies battle which other — blood and money shed on both sides.
Now that you know what kind of scum they are, see their slick promo site
Overview of the Monsanto sponsored Herbarium at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens
As if all the above isn’t creepy enough for you, here’s an overview of a meeting of the WAF — a pro-corporate NGO which as the executive for the organization states in a pro business St. Louis mag, “We’ve invited governors from agriculture-producing states the world over to come discuss the impacts of agriculture policy decisions at the local level,” says Kathy Moldthan, WAF executive vice president and chief operating officer. The governors will be accompanied by business delegations from their states, “who will network with other businesspeople from around the world and explore investment opportunities,” Moldthan adds.”