More than two million people, marched a few days ago against Monsanto, the agro-monster, in more than 400 cities in 52 countries.
There are confusion among many regarding GMO. The following information provided by Earth Open Source* helps understand the issue:
Genetically modified (GM) crops are promoted on the basis of a range of far-reaching claims from the GM crop industry and its supporters.
They say that GM crops:
• Are an extension of natural breeding and do not pose different risks from naturally bred crops
• Are safe to eat and can be more nutritious than naturally bred crops
• Are strictly regulated for safety
• Increase crop yields
• Reduce pesticide use
• Benefit farmers and make their lives easier
• Bring economic benefits
• Benefit the environment
• Can help solve problems caused by climate change
• Reduce energy use
• Will help feed the world.
However, a large and growing body of scientific and other authoritative evidence shows that these claims are not true. On the contrary, evidence presented in this report indicates that GM crops:
• Are laboratory-made, using technology that is totally different from natural breeding methods, and pose different risks from non-GM crops
• Can be toxic, allergenic or less nutritious than their natural counterparts
• Are not adequately regulated to ensure safety
• Do not increase yield potential
• Do not reduce pesticide use but increase it
• Create serious problems for farmers, including herbicide-tolerant “superweeds”, compromised soil quality, and increased disease susceptibility in crops
• Have mixed economic effects
• Harm soil quality, disrupt ecosystems, and reduce biodiversity
• Do not offer effective solutions to climate change
• Are as energy-hungry as any other chemically-farmed crops
• Cannot solve the problem of world hunger but distract from its real causes – poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, lack of access to land to grow it on.
Based on the evidence presented in this report, there is no need to take risks with GM crops when effective, readily available, and sustainable solutions to the problems that GM technology is claimed to address already exist.
Conventional plant breeding, in some cases helped by safe modern technologies like gene mapping and marker assisted selection, continues to outperform GM in producing high-yield, drought-tolerant, and pest- and disease-resistant crops that can meet our present and future food needs.
• The Organic & Non-GMO Report Newsletter – The Best Resource to Keep Updated on GE Foods.
• Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey Smith
The Health Risks of GE Foods
• Watch the documentary Unnatural Selection and the entire GMO Trilogy Film Series free online.
• Hazards of GE Foods and Crops – Why We Need a Global Moratorium by Ronnie Cummins
• Download this PowerPoint by Frank Kutka on the effects of the biotech industry and the call for sustainable agriculture.
• The Truth about PLU Codes
• Doctors: Pesticides Used on GMOs Are “Real Chemical Weapons”
* Organic Consumers Association, “GMO Myths and Truths”, http://www.organicconsumers.org/gelink.cfm
The Monsanto Revolution
By Timothy V. Gatto
29 May, 2013
The protests against the Monsanto Protection Act were not covered by the corporately run news media in the United States. This treacherous act itself has not been discussed by the majority of people and the information about what it really means to us is being hidden by those charged to provide this information.
The very fact that the corporate media has tried to minimize the coverage of the protests, and the fact that they hid the role of Congress in protecting a company that has the potential to damage our lives is something that is actually criminal. The fact that most Americans still don’t know about the potential effects of GMO seeds to the American people cannot be defended.
It was the alternative and social media that brought this matter to the public. The marches and the gathering of concerned Americans demonstrated the power of this new way of communication. The effectiveness and coordination in over 250 cities in the United States was absolutely remarkable and a demonstration of how democracy works.
It was also remarkable how the commercial media downplayed and censored the protests of the people. The importance of the information that the demonstrators were trying to present to the American public and the effect of what Monsanto’s policies will have on the public is of significant importance.
Even though people demonstrated in almost every city in the United States, the commercial media still managed to keep the purpose and the import of the demonstrations quiet, the suppression of that information was done masterfully.
What Else are they hiding from the People?
It appears that our government has morphed into something that would be unrecognizable to those that designed and formed it. In the period of time during the American Revolution, many people in the government were indeed rich and powerful, but many were not. Today most Senators and Congressman are rich and powerful and those that are not will by the time they leave office. The majority of those in Congress are controlled by corporate money and this is what funds their campaigns.
The Monsanto debacle has proven, beyond any shadow of a doubt that the commercial media is in the hands of the rich and powerful. Information they don’t want known does not escape from the media cloud that is dispersed to the people. The importance of what Monsanto plans to do, and the effect it would have on all of the people in the United States proves that even a subject that affects us so deeply can be hidden from the people.
This should cause a seismic shift in our understanding of who and what controls the American people. The importance of The Monsanto Protection Act and the potential damage to the health and economic welfare of American citizen’s cannot be understated. What Congress has done was not done in the name of the American people; it was done to shield a corporation and thus was essentially an act of treason.
Again I’m asking the question; what else are they hiding from us? Whether it is because of corporate interests or because of what they feel is “national security”, these questions should and must be asked and the government should be compelled to answer.
The simple facts are, the people don’t work for the government in America, the government, under our law, works for the people! When they passed “The Monsanto Protection Act”, they passed a law that literally protected a corporation from the American people! Again, this is treason! Treason perpetrated against the American people is a capital offense! This may sound extreme, but every lawmaker that voted for this bill should be impeached and charged with treason against the people of the United States. The bill should be declared treasonous and overturned by The Supreme Court.
Of course, in today’s political climate, and with the perpetrators being the ones that hold power in Congress, this won’t happen at this particular time, but it can and will happen. It must happen! If the American people want control of the government instead of the government having control over them, they must take this issue to its logical conclusion.
As has happened many times in the past, it is happening here and now in the United States of America. The government has acted against the welfare of its own people for the personal gain of a corporation. This display of corporate power is contrary to our Declaration of Independence and against our Constitution.
Anyone who really cares about the welfare of their fellow man should take notice. It is apparent that one day of marches and demonstrating in the streets just isn’t enough. The only way forward is to continue to raise hell; more marches, more demonstrations, more people posting articles and more people raising awareness using any means possible. This is the only hope of stopping treason against the people.
Tim Gatto is former Chairman of the Liberal Party of America, Tim is a retired Army Sergeant. He currently lives in South Carolina. He is the author of “Complicity to Contempt” and “Kimchee Days” available at Oliver Arts and Open Press. Tim Gatto’s new book “Contempt to Outrage” will be available soon from Oliver Arts and Open