monsanto

[margene]

Could someone explain what monsanto is all about?

[Jilly]

Not really. How is it even possible to explain the way they seem to put profit over people, the public good, heck, even the planet.

Although I had been aware that the company existed, I first became informed about some of their practices whilst reading Alex Kotlowitz's book, There are no children here. I think it was somewhere in the first quarter of the book when I had to stop, find paper, pen and stamp, and write of my distress, as poorly formed as it was at that moment.

I am certain that there are tons of on-line information about them and how they operate.

[iris lilies]

"If there was one word to explain what Monsanto is about, it would have to be farmers"

http://www.monsanto.com/Pages/default.aspx

But I imagine you won't like that answer, so here are some things Monsanto is doing in my town, MOnsanto's company town (St. Louis)

Monsanto at the Missouri Botanical Gardens
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/media/fact-pages/monsanto-center.aspx

Monsanto in education
http://www.wustl.edu/community/visitors/tour/danforth/monsanto-laboratory.html

http://monsanto.mediaroom.com/one-million-dollars-gift-to-UMSL-grand-center
etc


For me personally, I cannot live without Roundup. Love my Roundup! Perhaps someday when I am old and creaky and have only a tiny community garden plot of 3' X 8' like all of the other greenies around here, I will be able to eschew the practical properties of that essential chemical. But now, while I work full time and have--how many is it now? gardens at 9 different addresses-- I need the help of an herbicide that works.

Thanks for asking about Monsanto!

[catherine]

I totally respect Iris lilies' opinions since she IS the hands-on farmer here and I'm just a wannabe, BUT I would still like to present another side of the coin:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Happy-Homesteader/Monsanto-Buying-Seed-Companies.aspx#axzz2QvArILRM


"If the independent seed company is losing their license and has to destroy their seeds, they're not going to have anything, in effect, to sell," Boies said. "It requires them to destroy things - destroy things they paid for - if they go competitive. That's exactly the kind of restriction on competitive choice that the antitrust laws outlaw."

Some independent seed company owners say they feel increasingly pinched as Monsanto cements its leadership in the industry.

"They have the capital, they have the resources, they own lots of companies, and buying more. We're small town, they're Wall Street," said Bill Cook, co-owner of M-Pride Genetics seed company in Garden City, Mo., who also declined to discuss or provide the agreements. "It's very difficult to compete in this environment against companies like Monsanto."


I distrust Monsanto because of its ambition to own seeds, and also because I do believe Roundup can do damage over the long haul by increasing resistance. And the fact that they are trying to whitewash their image with claims that they care about sustainable practices is like Philip Morris saying they promote health by putting black box warnings on their cigarettes.

[iris lilies]

I totally respect Iris lilies' opinions since she IS the hands-on farmer here and I'm just a wannabe, BUT I would still like to present another side of the coin...


That's fine, and by "around here" I was thinking of my community garden coherts here in my neighborhood. But I suppose there are greenies around HERE on this website that garden only in 24 square feet. No one in their right mind needs Roundup for that.

[pinkytoe]

My brother worked as a Monsanto executive for many years. He didn't like the way they were going with their research in biotech so left but won't give any specifics. As far as Roundup, I believe it is not as harmless as some seem to think and that is coming to light. I read that milkweed that used to grow between the crop rows before Roundup ready seed was used may be causing the rapid decline of monarch butterflies as it is their host plant.

[Jilly]

I abhor some of their practices and how they have failed to take responsibility for the long years in which they were one of the major players in environmental pollution and the deadly effects it has had on significant populations.

The entire issue is complicated by their lack of cooperation in the realm of disclosure and their general refusal to just pull up their big-boy-panties and do the right things.

That said, I like Roundup very much. It has a relatively short half-life as far as these kinds of chemicals go, only approximately 30 days. The stuff is easy to use. I think my favorite part is that you can simply paint it on plants that need to go. It works on only the green parts of plants anyway, so unless there is a large area to be cleared, dabbing it on or using a narrow and direct spray pattern means that there is not drift to adjoining plants.

Potential problems are from how consumers use it. There is no accounting for the possibilities of improper and uninformed use by us humans.

The resistance aspect never really occurred to me, thinking that if the plants were completely destroyed that there would not be any future plants in which to build resistance. But, whilst I know, because of how distressed I am about their practices, I do not know even a scrap about that science.

However, I am rethinking part of this. I heard a program on NPR about how Roundup ready crops are destroying milkweed plants, which grow amongst crop plantings or alongside, ditches and fallow fields. Milkweed is the only food of Monarch butterflies and the decimation of their food source because of the insecticide protected plants is significant.

Man.

[Jilly]

Pinkytoe, I was typing as you posted. Very distressing is that whole problem.

[Geila]

I recently saw a documentary about Monsanto called The Future of Food. It was eye-opening and pretty heartbreaking.

[SteveinMN]

That said, I like Roundup very much. It has a relatively short half-life as far as these kinds of chemicals go, only approximately 30 days. The stuff is easy to use. I think my favorite part is that you can simply paint it on plants that need to go. It works on only the green parts of plants anyway, so unless there is a large area to be cleared, dabbing it on or using a narrow and direct spray pattern means that there is not drift to adjoining plants.
The firms around here that help convert lawn monocultures back to prairie use Roundup (or other brands of glyphosphate) to nuke existing grass/weeds before planting native species. It is, as you say, not as bad as some of the herbicides.


Potential problems are from how consumers use it. There is no accounting for the possibilities of improper and uninformed use by us humans.
People like my mother, who will empty half a can of Raid on a spider or a couple of ants. Just part of an American belief, I think, that if some is good, more is better, and too much is enough.:doh:

[mtnlaurel]

Margene - here is a thread with a lot of good info in it too. I had the exact same question you did.....

http://www.simplelivingforum.net/showthread.php?4303-Monsanto&highlight=monsanto

I have so many balls up in the air right now in my life, I just can't sink into this matter..... and I know it's important.

[ApatheticNoMore]

The firms around here that help convert lawn monocultures back to prairie use Roundup (or other brands of glyphosphate) to nuke existing grass/weeds before planting native species.

If you are impatient. The same thing can be done with cardboard/black plastic etc. Ha, the only way I've ever seen it done actually, so that pesticides wouldn't even have occured to me, but mostly done by individuals.

[Tussiemussies]

Monsanto has created genetically modified foods which right now include corn, sugar beets and I cannot recall what else. But the GMOs have a pesticide built right into the corn or whichever produce, itself. If an insect chews off a piece their stomach will explode killing them. Monsanto claims that by the time the produce gets to the consumer it won't have any effect but not many studies were done. One study done and I am not sure where but it showed that mice developed huge tutors after eating the produce. Many countries have outlawd its use. They are trying to monopolize the food system and telling people that this way we can feed the world. Their seeds from a plant cannot be used the next year. They have bought out many seed companies also, so farmers are forced to purchase seed every year from them. There is more to why but I cannot recall. Whereas the farmers used to save their own seeds. Obama not too long ago appointed one of their vice-presidents to a high position in the FDA. The biggest problem is that Monsanto does not want labeling of GMOs on any grocery product and are spending so much money to try to stop this from happening. Some states have fought to have GMOs labeled in their state but Monsanto has always won out. Monsanto is extremely rich and dangerous they want to monopolize all foods. A recent bill was passed that puts them above the law I believe it was for six months. It is a very serious situation. If you want more information join Occupy Monsanto on Facebook. They have very enlightening information.

Their media ploy is that the world can be fed this way. The world has enough already to feed everyone but it is greed that is preventing that from happening.

There is GMO salmon coming out. Not sure if it has been approved yet. There are many concerns about these much bigger fish effecting the environment..

There is a statewide march against Monsanto on May 25th, with major cities in the states being involved. Again that information I got frm their site on Facebook. If you search around you may find it.

Because of Monsanto's GMO produce bugs are growing immune to the pesticide. Now they want to spray crops with part of what made up Agent Orange.

Crops that grow nearby a crop of the same species p, from what I read they talk about corn, the GMO corn can effect the normal corn so it turns into a GMO variety. Corn as we know it could go extinct since there is no turning back once it happens.

A very serious situation.

I posted on Kellogg's website, isn't your product a GMO product and after that I was denied access on my account to certain groups that I belong to. I cannot say as a fact that it was related since after writing into Facebook they never answered me. But it changed everyday from what I was banned from. Epidemic did receive a message on Facebook from a Kellogg's's representative calling me a hippe and the other people who protested on the site he also referred to them as hippies on the site. The two groups that I was usually always banned from were Hippie Peace Freaks and America Needs A Truthful President. The ban has been lifted after I didn't post for two days. Like I said it may or may not be related but nothing else had happened on Facebook to prompt this. I urge you to read up closely on all of Monsanto's history of late....

Christine


Sorry for all the typos but I am on the iPad and have a very hard time typing on it...

[catherine]

Thanks, Christine. Very interesting.

[redfox]

Monsanto is a large, US based global private company that behaves like every large, US based global private company in a capitalist context: they make products to maximize shareholder value. They operate quite logically within that structure. Their products are not necessary for agriculture (I was a moderate scale farmer), and IMO are very damaging to agriculture; an opinion backed by some emerging science.

They're highly successful at marketing & defending their products. I find their busniess practices & their products to be quite detrimental to a healthy planet. I also find our federal regulatory practices to be severely lacking, and the combo appears to me to be large scale, unintended experiments on the health systems that undergird all of life.

[BayouGirl]

Lately Monsanto has caught my attention for all the wrong reasons.
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15825

"Does Monsanto own all future generations of genetically modified seeds that it sells? The Missouri-based agribusiness giant wants farmers to pay a royalty to plant any seed that descended from a patented original. The legal decision has ramifications for other patented "inventions" that reproduce themselves like strands of DNA.

The U.S. Supreme Court appeared to side with Monsanto in oral arguments heard this past February in a lawsuit that the world's largest seed company has brought against Vernon Hugh Bowman (http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/11-796.htm), a 75 year old farmer in Indiana, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat on a small farm of 600 acres (242 hectares)."

I live in a very rural area, where we see many acres, even miles of small farmers crops of soybeans, sugarcane, corn, etc. I would hate to see those small farmers hounded by a multi billion dollar company for years over something like this.

[SteveinMN]

If you are impatient. The same thing can be done with cardboard/black plastic etc.
True. It's a reaction to time being money, I'm sure.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Monsanto is a large, US based global private company that behaves like every large, US based global private company in a capitalist context: they make products to maximize shareholder value. They operate quite logically within that structure.

Yea so? If their products can be shown to cause more harm than the average global private company (which may not have a great record) then they are worse, period. And people choose to work for that company over others etc. - and they could have choosen to find somewhere less sleezy. But there will always be people to fill that role so long as it exists? Oh I'm quite sure of it! Just like there will always be drug smugglers, human trafficers, makers of child porn or whatever there exists some demand for. A maker of child porn operates quite logically within a structure they can make a profit in (global capitalism? well while monsanto has both shareholders and government support and thus is capitalism corporatist form, a child porn maker might just be something far more basic - a marketplace). We aren't so quick to make excuses for them though.


I also find our federal regulatory practices to be severely lacking, and the combo appears to me to be large scale, unintended experiments on the health systems that undergird all of life.

Oh I would happily try to destroy them at the core if I could, end the patentability of life, period. It's probably only such laws PLUS the lack of regulation that keep them in business. And it's not leading anywhere good. They can still make Roundup I guess, it's not a lifeform. Meanwhile, label ...

[ToomuchStuff]

Lately Monsanto has caught my attention for all the wrong reasons.
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15825

"Does Monsanto own all future generations of genetically modified seeds that it sells? The Missouri-based agribusiness giant wants farmers to pay a royalty to plant any seed that descended from a patented original. The legal decision has ramifications for other patented "inventions" that reproduce themselves like strands of DNA.

The U.S. Supreme Court appeared to side with Monsanto in oral arguments heard this past February in a lawsuit that the world's largest seed company has brought against Vernon Hugh Bowman (http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/11-796.htm), a 75 year old farmer in Indiana, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat on a small farm of 600 acres (242 hectares)."

I live in a very rural area, where we see many acres, even miles of small farmers crops of soybeans, sugarcane, corn, etc. I would hate to see those small farmers hounded by a multi billion dollar company for years over something like this.



I remember reading about them, on a legal reporting site (Groklaw), where it was being discussed how they were going after a NEIGHBORING farmer to one that bought their seeds, due to some of the seeds the purchaser used, either blowing over, being carried by animals,, and or sprouting roots that produced plants in the neighbors fields. (all acts of god, typically for insurance purposes). That ticks me off.

[redfox]

ApatheticNoMore, do you think my description of Monsanto is making excuses for them?

[catherine]

Interestingly, I just had this (http://gmoevidence.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/GlyModern-diseaseSamsel-Seneff-13-1.pdf) land in my FB feed:

Granted, it was posted by Occupy Monsanto, but what interests me is the possibility that "glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of …food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins. Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body. Here, we show how interference with CYP enzymes acts synergistically with disruption of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids by gut bacteria, as well as impairment in serum sulfate transport. Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.”


I've done lots of market research for manufacturers of obesity drugs, and I've always been suspicious that the explosion of obesity in this country (see this astounding CDC obesity trend deck (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/map_of_the_week/2013/04/obesity_in_america_cdc_releases_gif_of_epidemic_ov er_time.html)) is something "under cover": not just people eating more McDonalds, but something much more insidious, like HFCS or some endocrine disrupter.

[ApatheticNoMore]

ApatheticNoMore, do you think my description of Monsanto is making excuses for them?

maybe something like "the system made them do it". Incentives are definitely all wrong (no required labeling of GMOs, legally enforced patenting of life forms, inadequate precautions for the effects of GMOs on ecosystems etc.. So not just the profit motive but basic legal incentives are all wrong), but still the heads of monsanto take those actions (and infiltrate the political process enough to set those incentives). In short, they are despicable.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I've done lots of market research for manufacturers of obesity drugs, and I've always been suspicious that the explosion of obesity in this country (see this astounding CDC obesity trend deck) is something "under cover": not just people eating more McDonalds, but something much more insidious, like HFCS or some endocrine disrupter.

possibly an infection, if you were a microcrobe you'd want to infect a species some 7 billion strong. It's sometimes seemed to me that just eating TOO MUCH, even of healthy organic food, and it's easy enough to eat too much in this world full of temptation, could lead to an extra 10 or 20 unwanted pounds, ok. But it hardly seems possible it could lead to extremes of weight gain. Obviously I don't know.

[catherine]

Obviously I don't know.

I don't know either, for sure. I'm not a biologist or chemist, but it's amazing to me that these trends have taken place in such a short amount of time! 30 years! When I started interviewing PCPs twenty years ago, a small percentage of their patients were being treated for diabetes. Now it's between 30-50%.

We could blame fast food, "grab-and-go" lifestyles, TV and video games, too many temptations, cars, too much wealth, too much availability of fattening foods, too little incentive to change lifestyle habits, women entering the workforce (don't yell at me, that's what some doctors think).. etc. etc. But in that mix, to me it makes sense to consider new chemicals that have never been available before 1980.

[pinkytoe]

I recently read Wheat Belly and it shows how obesity started its ascent in the mid 1980's. Interesting reading.

[MaryHu]

Here's (http://www.percyschmeiser.com/) a link to the website of the Canadian farmer whose fields were contaminated by his neighbor's Round Up Ready Canola. He never planted it but it infiltrated through cross pollination from his neighbor. Monsanto sued him for having some of THEIR crop without having paid for the patented seed. He sued right back for them polluting his seed strains which he had spent decades developing. Guess who won.

The "terminator" gene they are putting in some of their plants makes it impossible for farmer's to save seed from one year to the next, (as farmer's have been doing for millennia) all seeds are sterile so they must buy new seed each year from Monsanto. This gene is feared to be spreading through cross pollination/contamination so that Monsanto will soon own all crop life on earth. They are truly insidious, have deeper pockets than anyone and will sue even the smallest farmer if he gets on their wrong side.

[iris lily]

We could blame fast food, "grab-and-go" lifestyles, TV and video games, too many temptations, cars, too much wealth, too much availability of fattening foods, too little incentive to change lifestyle habits, women entering the workforce (don't yell at me, that's what some doctors think).. etc. etc. But in that mix, to me it makes sense to consider new chemicals that have never been available before 1980.

Insidious phantom chemical is easier to swallow than the obvious: few people engage in physical work, fatty sugery calories in faux food are everywhere. Ok.

Consider the new chemicals if you like, and certainly keep an open mind to that, but really--the evidence is all around us and it ain't stealth chemicals, it's human behavior.