Monsanto, the antithesis of the organic movement, specializes in genetically altered seeds in corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola; but what many may not realize, and what the mainstream media never covered is what happened last year. Monsanto purchased the Dutch breeding and seed company, De Ruiter Seedsthat purchase, combined with Monsanto’s 2005 purchase of Seminis, makes them the largest seed company on Earth, controlling 85 percent of the total market. And there’s little doubt Monsanto intends to apply its famed biotechnology to all their seed companies.
You do remember Monsanto”the people that brought you DDT ( banned by Congress), Agent Orange, and Terminator Seeds. They have violated child labor laws, harassed small farmers around the country, paid fines worldwide for bribery, false advertising, and willful deception; they’ve hired contractors to illegally dump thousands of tons of highly toxic waste, conspired with media to suppress their products’ health risks, and caused thousands of farmers in India to commit suicide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allege that Monsanto is “potentially responsible party” for 56 contaminated sites (Superfund sites) in the United States. Monsanto has been named as defendants in multiple cases for damaging the health of its employees or residents near its Superfund sites through pollution and poisoning.
How does a company so rooted in evil become so mightywith aggressive litigation and powerful political lobbying. Take “Rural Americans for Hillary”, an event planned during Hillary’s campaign for presidential nominee by Troutman Sanders, Monsanto’s lobbyists; this arrangement reflects clear connections between Hillary and Monsanto which originated through the Rose Law Firm.
Additionally, back in 2000, Bill Clinton appointed a former Monsanto Corporate Lobbyist to represent US consumers on genetically engineered food issues. This outraged consumer and environmental groups who didn’t want a former Monsanto lobbyist to represent U.S. consumers on genetically engineered foods.
In an “Open Letter to Hillary Clinton From a Wellesley College Alumna”, Linn Cohen-Cole writes: “Bill’s FDA gave Monsanto permission to market rBGH (a GE bovine growth hormone), the first genetically engineered product let loose on us..Despite reports of bovine illness and death, Bill’s FDA did not recall it or put warnings on it. Even a very angry, very vocal nationwide consumer base’ had no impact. Bill’s FDA wouldn’t even label rBGH as present’ in milk..When dairy farmers tried to label their own milk rBGH-free so the public could choose..Bill’s USDA threatened all dairies that their products could be confiscated from stores”
During the time of that same fiasco, when the State Department asked environmental and consumer opponents of bio-engineered foods to nominate their representatives, the State Department shunned the nomination of Michael Hansen, a scientist with the Consumers Union, and instead gave the post to Carol Tucker Foreman, a Capitol insider and 18 year lobbyist who aided Monsanto in securing approval for bovine growth hormone, a chemical that stimulates milk production.
In 2008, Monsanto’s total lobbying expenditures came close to 9 Million. “Now, the company has biotech products key to its future in the approval pipeline and the prospect of more stringent regulations for its genetically engineered crops”
One of the most frightening Monsanto creations is a sinister seed technology nicknamed “Terminator”. Terminator seeds have only one growth cycle. “The technology produces plants that have sterile seeds so they do not flower or grow fruit after the initial planting, requiring customers to purchase seed from Monsanto for every planting in which they use Monsanto seed varieties. There is..concern that the Terminator’ effect will be spread to native vegetation through pollination rendering all plants unable to reproduce fruit”
Monsanto has joined Archer Daniels Midland to form yet another powerful lobbying group, The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy; this group has joined forces to lobby for the development of biofuels from ethanol. “Obama has said he will support measures that help fund the development of ethanol-based biofuels. He received nearly $2 million from the agribusiness sector during his presidential run”
It’s this kind of conflict of interest that makes a mockery of government. Everywhere you look there’s an inextricable web of corporate and government co-mingling spun by corporate lobbyists into the fabric of our so-called representative democracy.