Uhhg. Monsanto

[Psalm 23]

I've never posted to this part of the forum before...don't even know if this is the right place to ask something like this....

Have any of you folks heard much about Monsato and their GM seed, Bovine Growth Harmones, and all the ways they are trying to take over the word's food supply? I have been doing a ton of research on them lately because my garden class teacher talked a bit about them, and oh they just makes me so mad.

I would really like to talk about this with someone. I could go on and on.

Anyway, I was just wondering how many people are aware of this issue. I'd love to hear from some of you!

 

[Tabitha]

http://www.organicconsumers.org/article ... _11149.cfm

That's all pretty rotten!

It makes me want to move out in to the country & grow my own food.

 

[southernheartsoaps]

I just watched a ETV special on Monsanto a few weeks ago... it was a little frightening! What REALLY got to me is the farmers who choose to "save seed" from previous year's crops are fined and, for lack of a better word, shunned! They are REQUIRED to purchase their seed each year from Monsanto in order to stay in business (who knows what genetically altered seed they MUST use)! Monsanto basically OWNS them!

 

[Psalm 23]

Tabitha~ Thanks for the link, I had not come across it yet.

It IS frightening to see what they're doing. They are now estimated to own 85-90% of the nursery market, which of course includes all the fertilizers and herbicides. They've made it illegal to save seeds from "their" special plants. Monsanto's motto "No food shall be grown that we do not own." It's a monopoly really. You can rake in a lot of money if you own the whole earth's seed and meat supply. They are also working on purifying and re-selling water in India and Mexico now, which is a double bonus for them, because the only reason they are purifying the water is because of the chemicals farmers are putting into it-Monsanto's own chemicals.

One scary thing I read was that in 2005 I think it was, Monsanto tried to patent their "Terminator" gene. This lovely gene basically causes plants to not produce usable seed, if they produce any at all. Monsanto didn't end up patenting that one, but I wouldn't put it past them to use it without anyone knowing. Hybrids are just a step lower that that though. You can save seed from hybrids, but you never really know what you'll get from the plant.

You probably don't want to hear about what they're doing with canola. (That's a soap ingredient! :cry: ) They do it with corn though too. They call it "roundup ready" The seed is genetically engineered to be resistant to roundup, so it can be coated with the weed killer as often as needed.


Monsanto sues farmers constantly. One family owned dairy in Main was in big trouble for a label on their milk that simply said: The farmer's Pledge Our milk does not contain any BST's. Monsanto said it was hurtful to their business.

BTW, they are the creators of Agent Orange...

Needless to say, I am really looking into buying only open pollinated seed and saving the seeds from the plants.

Hehe Hope I didn't just ruin somebody's day

 

[maya]

the person who wrote wild fermentation food book, has one written after it called the revolution will not be microwaved. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

tp://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Will-Not ... t_ep_dpi_2

 

[gekko62]

Companies that patent seeds like that can even claim a %age of crop sales years down the track.There's a co in Australia that sells grafted white peach & nectarine trees,farmers who plant them are obliged to sell their crop back to the co & give a share of profits!
On the flipside an aussie co in East Timor is r&d'ing a variety of crops developed from breeding not gm that are successful,high yeild & farmers can save seed,so maybe there's hope yet! Still,humans are such greedy creatures who knows?
eta:
Plus yanno what I reckon. How do we know there's no ill effect? Give it a hundred yrs or so then tell us it's all perfectly safe to have fish genes in tomato's.

 

[maya]

the very idea that monsanto has sued (and iirc, won!) farmers whose crops were contaminated with blow over from monsanto seeded crops really burns me up.

it makes me very grateful to volunteer at a comsumer food coop that does not ever allow this kind of garbage.

 

[lovetosoap]

People need to buy seed from catalogs that take the safe seed pledge.
these companies need all the support they can get.

A few are

seedsaversexchange.org----Seed Savers Exchange.
www.rareseeds.com-----Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds


Anyone want names of more companies, let me know.
The governmnet allows many of these new GM seeds on the market without extensive testing. We are the being used to test the safety of the seeds.

 

[Psalm 23]

Thnx to everyone for your imput!

lovetosoap~ I have heard several people mention those seed supplier names...I have a list of safe seed co.'s as well, ( the seed co.'s that are safe as of today :wink: ) Fedco is a good one too. They have a large selection. It's sad to think that Monsanto and other companies are kind of using the people as "science experiments" with their new seeds and chemicals, and we all wonder why so many have cancer....

gekko62~ Crazy what they are putting into and taking out of these poor plants. I heard that they have been putting firefly genes into strawberry plants. Goodness knows what they'll come up with next. And if they say it's fine, it's likely that most will believe them and then a few years after that it will be found out that something was wrong with it and it's making people sick. I heard that it is safe to spray roundup all over your garden to kill the weeds before you plant in the spring. That is not true of course, Monsanto has tried to make us belive that roundup is completely safe, and it is not.

Meya~ That does look like a great book! I'll check it out.

You have had to be really careful with some of the stuff you am look up on the internet. There are a lot of "conspiracy theory" weirdo's on the net, and I don't want to be involved with that stuff at all. It is a good thing to be thinking about the future, but I just don't want to take it to far. It's a little hard to find that fine line.

 

[madhattersoap]

Check out the documentary called "Food, Inc." Should be available through Netflix and other video rental places. It's a real eye opener and talks a lot about corn, food processing, and Monsanto's seed monopoly. Makes you rethink why type of food you buy and where you buy it from.

 

[mariflo]

You may have watched this but I'll go ahead and post it anyway ...
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-worl ... -monsanto/

It made me decide to grow my own herbs and tomato plants (in pots because we live in an apt...)

 

[gekko62]

Check out the documentary called "Food, Inc." Should be available through Netflix and other video rental places. It's a real eye opener and talks a lot about corn, food processing, and Monsanto's seed monopoly. Makes you rethink why type of food you buy and where you buy it from.

This doco has just made it to Australian Cinema's in limited release. I'd never heard of it,then twice in a week! Have to find where its on......

 

[maya]

You may have watched this but I'll go ahead and post it anyway ...
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-worl ... -monsanto/

It made me decide to grow my own herbs and tomato plants (in pots because we live in an apt...)

i heard a radio show today science friday on national public radio, an interview with a blogger. the blog is called... cheapvegtablegardener.com

the blogger writes about a ton of tips and stuff for small space gardening and inexpensive tips.

 

[mariflo]

Thank you Maya,
I will definitely check it out.

Happy soaping!
mari