Tarantula-1
Member
My apologies if I'm placing this in the wrong section, but this is of vital interest to everyone on Earth and particularly those of us in the growing community.
The expose/documentary THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MONSANTO will air on the Sundance Channel on Sunday May 17 at 9.35am EST. If you can't see it there, you can see the whole thing on YouTube, viewable at:
http://www.twilightearth.com/2009/05/the-world-according-to-monsanto-full-documentary/
If you've recently read about such efforts at organic seed preservation as Norway's Svalbard International Seed Vault, or the Vavilov Institute in St. Petersburg, then it's time you learned more about the sinister machinations of the US corporation that's making such last-ditch efforts at saving organic growing and genetic diversity from disappearing off the face of the Earth forever a vital necessity: the Monsanto Corporation.
Literally responsible for thousands of deaths, and tens of thousands of major illnesses and deformities, the good folks at Monsanto have been responsible for bringing the world: saccharin (for which they were sued by the US govt in 1917 unsuccessfully - only the first of many ominous victories they would score over public health), 2-4-5-T, DDT, dioxin, PCBs, polyurethanes, Agent Orange, bovine growth hormone, and oh yeah - they also helped develop nuclear weapons for the Manhattan Project. They have been responsible for the worst industrial accidents (such as the Texas City Disaster that killed at least 581 people and injured 5000) and most toxic pollution events in recorded history, many with full knowledge beforehand of the long-term health implications (as discovered via class-action lawsuits forcing the release of confidential internal company memos; some dating back to the 30s!) Their toxic-waste dumping in Alabama alone (for 40 years!) has been responsible for generations of disease and early death, dumping tons of mercury and PCBs into local creeks and millions of pounds of PCB into open-pit landfills (which they then encouraged local residents to use as topsoil!)
But that was then - compared to their current work, the preceding represents the benign Monsanto. They have since moved into genetically-modified crops and seed, seizing such a stranglehold on the industry (they control 75-100% of the market on all GMOs) that they have literally embarked upon a program of world domination. If you're one of those folks who thinks the evil corporation is a cliche born of liberal propaganda and bad made-for-tv movies....think again. Monsanto is today more powerful than most governments, wielding power undreamed of through an arsenal of lawsuits, bribes, lobbyists and coercion, and they are rapidly changing the face of agriculture - via their ruthless marketing of GMOs, which have wiped out hundreds of natural and traditional plant cultivars, and their insidious business practices (such as patenting plant varieties as intellectual property (!), and introducing Terminator-gene technology to render plants sterile - not only forcing farmers into yearly purchases of seed stock, but rendering neighboring, organic cultivars sterile through wind pollination!).
Folks: I could go on until this site runs out of bandwidth; even the documentary can only scratch the surface of this company's sheer evil. When Orwell wrote "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face - forever", he was only half right - he thought he was talking about a totalitarian government; he was actually referring to the Monsanto Corporation. Compared to this living symbol of capitalism run amok, even the most repressive government would come off as the good guys.
I can't stress this enough....see this movie. On Sundance if you have it, or YouTube if you don't. And be prepared to be appalled, furious and absolutely terrified.
The expose/documentary THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MONSANTO will air on the Sundance Channel on Sunday May 17 at 9.35am EST. If you can't see it there, you can see the whole thing on YouTube, viewable at:
http://www.twilightearth.com/2009/05/the-world-according-to-monsanto-full-documentary/
If you've recently read about such efforts at organic seed preservation as Norway's Svalbard International Seed Vault, or the Vavilov Institute in St. Petersburg, then it's time you learned more about the sinister machinations of the US corporation that's making such last-ditch efforts at saving organic growing and genetic diversity from disappearing off the face of the Earth forever a vital necessity: the Monsanto Corporation.
Literally responsible for thousands of deaths, and tens of thousands of major illnesses and deformities, the good folks at Monsanto have been responsible for bringing the world: saccharin (for which they were sued by the US govt in 1917 unsuccessfully - only the first of many ominous victories they would score over public health), 2-4-5-T, DDT, dioxin, PCBs, polyurethanes, Agent Orange, bovine growth hormone, and oh yeah - they also helped develop nuclear weapons for the Manhattan Project. They have been responsible for the worst industrial accidents (such as the Texas City Disaster that killed at least 581 people and injured 5000) and most toxic pollution events in recorded history, many with full knowledge beforehand of the long-term health implications (as discovered via class-action lawsuits forcing the release of confidential internal company memos; some dating back to the 30s!) Their toxic-waste dumping in Alabama alone (for 40 years!) has been responsible for generations of disease and early death, dumping tons of mercury and PCBs into local creeks and millions of pounds of PCB into open-pit landfills (which they then encouraged local residents to use as topsoil!)
But that was then - compared to their current work, the preceding represents the benign Monsanto. They have since moved into genetically-modified crops and seed, seizing such a stranglehold on the industry (they control 75-100% of the market on all GMOs) that they have literally embarked upon a program of world domination. If you're one of those folks who thinks the evil corporation is a cliche born of liberal propaganda and bad made-for-tv movies....think again. Monsanto is today more powerful than most governments, wielding power undreamed of through an arsenal of lawsuits, bribes, lobbyists and coercion, and they are rapidly changing the face of agriculture - via their ruthless marketing of GMOs, which have wiped out hundreds of natural and traditional plant cultivars, and their insidious business practices (such as patenting plant varieties as intellectual property (!), and introducing Terminator-gene technology to render plants sterile - not only forcing farmers into yearly purchases of seed stock, but rendering neighboring, organic cultivars sterile through wind pollination!).
Folks: I could go on until this site runs out of bandwidth; even the documentary can only scratch the surface of this company's sheer evil. When Orwell wrote "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face - forever", he was only half right - he thought he was talking about a totalitarian government; he was actually referring to the Monsanto Corporation. Compared to this living symbol of capitalism run amok, even the most repressive government would come off as the good guys.
I can't stress this enough....see this movie. On Sundance if you have it, or YouTube if you don't. And be prepared to be appalled, furious and absolutely terrified.
