I first heard about Monsanto and Genetically Modified Organisms back in High School, and at first I didn't realize how bad it could be. Once I found out that a company had designed seeds that were resilient to pesticide and could only be used once I started to see how this could be a problem. After watching Food Inc. last week I felt I needed to share this with others.
Monsanto has patented their seeds and practically owns the market. Their seeds are supposedly "the best possible germplasm, [with] improved genetics, for a higher yield" but this forces farmers to use Monsanto seeds and buy new ones every year. Many people are opposed to having to buy needs seeds every year because it is expensive, and they want to keep "conventional and organically grown seeds free of genetically modified organisms". Monsanto is actually going to the point of suing people who save seeds (even some who aren't using their patented seed) because they want all the money they can get. Their defense is that Monsanto "invests more than $2.6 million per day in research and development that ultimately benefits farmers and consumers" so farmers should buy new seeds every year to support that. If you watch the video (below) you will see that Monsanto is using it's money to sue people and pay people off. Maybe if they were not doing that they would have more money to put toward their research.
One thing that really annoyed be is that they quote Ghandi on their Philanthropic activities. Monsanto Fund is supposed to bridge the gap between people's needs and resources. Hmm, anyone else notice that by forcing people to buy new seeds every year they are creating a gap between people and resources? It makes me angry that at the bottom of the page it says "we must be the change we wish to make in this world" because that is not the world I want this to be (and many others agree). Do we really want the industry owned by one company who has the sole goal of making money?
The biggest issue to me is not the money, it's the health effects. They don't have to label anything as a GMO, leaving us in the dark about what we are consuming. As also seen in the video, the bovine growth hormone that is used by Monsanto could be cancer causing. However, Monsanto has the FDA in their pocket and the dangers of this hormone are not told to the public as it should be. More studies need to be done to see how dangerous this really is to our health. Europe (and thankfully Canada) was smart to ban American milk and they did it because of rBGH (Genetically-engineered bovine growth hormone), don't believe me? Click here. However, if America were to ban it then Monsanto would lose millions, probably billions so they sell it unlabelled to keep people from protesting it. You may also want to read this article about a Monsanto employee who realized how dangers their products were, and quit because no one would listen to him.
I advise you to do some more research about what you're eating, thanks to Monsanto companies don't have to label it.
Try googling "the link between Monsanto and Aspartame"
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