Tag Archives: Monsanto

Monsanto Named a Great Place to Work While Making the Earth a Terrible Place to Live

There is something truly rotten about Monsanto.

The bio tech agricultural giant has been named #12 in the “prestigious” World’s Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work. A dubious award, considering this innocent Google search:

why monsanto is...

Evil, bad, unethical, and harmful. Sounds like a really great place to work, huh? More on that in a minute, but let’s discuss the merit of this particular award first.

Great Places to Work is a San Francisco-based research and consulting firm that decided three years ago to begin naming the best places in the world to work. The criteria is based on workplace culture, and companies can only be eligible for the list if they have at least 5,500 employees—40 percent of which must work outside the company’s home country.

These accolades, bestowed upon 25 companies, aren’t based on ethics, fair business practices, or community service—they are survey-based and reflect the feelings of millions of employees from thousands of different companies. All of Monsanto’s happy employees might frown if they knew about the evil practices of their employer. The fact that McDonald’s—the fast food chain that basically admitted their full-time employees couldn’t survive on their wages—made this list even more suspect.

In short, Monsanto has not won a humanitarian or global stewardship award, and probably never will. (more…)

Posted on October 23, 2024 by Patrick

Is a GMO-Free Oregon a Real Possibility?

The people of Oregon have been adamantly anti-GMO for some time, but their resolve has recently gained more national attention. A GMO beet crop became the victim of “agro-terrorism” when the fields, owned by Syngenta, were set on fire. There have also been two major lawsuits to come out of Oregon against Monsanto. When farmers discovered genetically engineered wheat crops in their fields, they were understandably confused and concerned.

oregon farm

“He [the farmer] discovered it when he was spraying and figured out that this particular wheat plant didn’t die. This has alerted local farmers and consumers to the reality that you can’t really control where these seeds end up, and people are very concerned about the integrity of the food we produce, consume and export,” said GMO-labeling advocate and blogger Karen Mares. The concern about the GMO crops caused several countries, including Japan, to ban the crop potentially creating economic trouble for Oregon.

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Posted on July 29, 2024 by Elizabeth

Kansas Farmer Sues Monsanto for GMO Wheat Crop Contamination

“We’ve fought them before and we’re not afraid of them.”

 Those are the words of Warren T. Burns, one of the attorneys representing a Kansas wheat farmer who is taking on the biotech giant Monsanto. According to the Associated Press, farmer Ernest Barnes filed suit against the company on Monday after genetically modified wheat was found growing in a field in Oregon. Barnes is claiming the company’s gross negligence has hurt U.S. growers. Genetically modified wheat is not approved for U.S. farming and this discovery may show that the GMO crops that were tested in certain states have infiltrated the food system by actually growing in the field where approved wheat is farmed.

gmo wheat

Since the announcement, Japan has suspended some import orders. This is just an indicator of what may happen if GMO wheat contaminates the American wheat crops. Other countries have strict laws about GMOs; more than 60 countries have banned GMOs and most do not want any products sent to their country if they contain GMOs. The wheat industry was still on the up and up, as no GMO wheat has been approved for U.S. farming. Now that it seems there’s been a contamination, who knows what will happen. (more…)

Posted on June 6, 2024 by Lacy

Vermont Set to be the First State to Label GMOs

We’ve got to start somewhere and why not start in Vermont? Start labeling GMOs, that is. A new federal bill, the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know-Act, was introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR). The bill mandates the labeling of GMOs and this one might actually pass in Vermont.VT GMO

RT.com reported on this issue as the bill passed through the state house last week. The report stated that more than 90 percent of Americans want GMO products labeled. Senator Boxer presented these numbers. RT.com also followed that up by reminding us that right now the Food and Drug Administration still does not consider a GMO to be “materially” different. This means the products cannot be tasted, smelled, or identified. Because of this, the FDA does not require labeling. More than 60 countries in Europe require such labeling; maybe soon, this will change in the United States. (more…)

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Lacy

Boycotting Monsanto? You’ve Got the Buycott App for That

Are you one of the millions of Americans hell bent on putting this monster of a company, and its peers, in their place? There’s now an app for that. In fact, Buycott, which launched this month to much consumer excitement, will help you boycott products from brands you’ve no interest in supporting. So many consumers want to vote with their dollars, but because of the tangled web weaved by mergers and company ownership, few people know that when they innocently buy a box of Duncan Hines cake mix that the brand is owned by Monsanto.

Now with Buycott, you can simply scan the bar code of any product at the grocery store and find out which company is behind it. The idea is certainly not to complicate your grocery experience, what with the reading of ingredient and nutrition labels, too, but rather to arm you with more information to make a most educated decision. If this is your thing.

buycott app
“A buycott is the opposite of a boycott. It is an active campaign to buy the products or services of a particular company or brand,” they say in the introductory pages of the app upon download. This suggests that while you may scan one brand and learn of its corporate heritage and choose not to buy it, you’ll likewise scan a different product and choose to support that brand instead. The Buycott app can work either way, obviously. (more…)

Posted on May 15, 2024 by Natalie K

Genetic Roulette: How the Food Industry’s GMO Love Affair is Endangering Us All

The market is saturated with food documentaries. A new one is about to surface, yet this one doesn’t seem to be filled with the same information told in a new way. This one rarely mentions obesity, doesn’t really get into what vegetables you should be eating, and I don’t think there’s much mention of fast food. This one is different. It’s bringing to light an important issue that has been hidden in the dark for too long. Genetic Roulette, The Gamble of Our Lives will be released soon and so will many frightening yet true facts about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO).

GMOs have become a hot button issue in the food, health, and related industries. Grassroot efforts are rising up as Non-GMO advocates try to get ears to hear the hard truths about the food we’re being fed and the food we’re feeding to our kids. This film may be the voice advocates need. There are many details that compelled me to listen closer and research more about this topic. One of the harshest truths was revealed early on in the film – we are all likely eating food that causes insects’ stomachs to explode. Stomachs explode, yes, you read that right. (more…)

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Lacy

President Obama Signs Monsanto Protection Act Into Law, Angering Protestors

monsanto

  • On Tuesday, President Obama signed a spending bill, HR 933 continuing resolution, into law. Included in HR 933 is the controversial Section 735, the provision now know as the “Monsanto Protection Act.”
  • The Monsanto Protection Act effectively prevents the federal courts from halting the sale or planting of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds and crops regardless of what health consequences may result from the consumption of those products in the future.
  • A major concern is that not enough research has been done on the health risks of GMOs and GE products. If health risks were to become apparent in the future, the Monsanto Protection Act would remove the judicial power to prevent companies from selling them. (more…)
Posted on March 28, 2024 by Elizabeth

7 Facts About GMOs to Convince You to Vote Yes on 37

Surely you’ve been hearing the buzz about GMOs by now.  As the vote in California is just around the corner, many more groups are talking about this controversial topic. In case you aren’t sure what all the talk is about, the California ballot next month will ask voters to pass a law to require labeling of GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms. If you haven’t decided where you stand about this subject, here are 7 facts about GMOs we hope will persuade you to vote Yes on 37.

1. A GMO is a Food with Altered DNA. Before we get too caught up in the details, let’s start at the beginning and define what a GMO is. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. Much of our food supply is comprised of these organisms. A genetically modified food is a plant or meat that has had its DNA altered in a lab. Genes from other plants or organisms have been artificially altered to create unnatural compounds in food. This is all done in order to yield larger crops, allow the crop to resist insects, protect against viruses, and tolerate herbicides. This is all done in hopes to create bigger profits and lower costs to consumers.

2. The US is a Global Leader in GMO Crops. According to USA Today, the US leads the world in GMO crop planting. We planted 170 million acres in 2024. That yielded 95% of the country’s sugar beets, 94% of the soybeans, 90% of the cotton, and 88% of the feed corn. (more…)

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Lacy

Monsanto’s GMO Sweet Corn Makes its Grocery Store Debut

If you’re like my family, summer dinners mean several delicious seasonal vegetables – preferably vegetables prepared on the grill. Nothing quite says summer like a perfectly grilled ear of corn.

This is the first summer, though, that my family has really questioned our favorite summertime vegetable. This is the first summer we learned we might be eating genetically modified corn on the cob.

According the the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, there are very few fresh fruits and vegetables sold in America that are actually genetically modified. In fact, the only commercialized GMO is Hawaii’s papaya. This fact was true, but it seems that things are about to change.

Just this month, Wal-Mart Supercenters announced they will be carrying a line of Monsanto’s GMO sweet corn, despite the public’s outcries, according to a report from CommonDreams.org. As it is with all GMO foods in America, the store does not have to label the corn, and they said they won’t be.

The type of corn Wal-Mart is selling is a blend that has been modified to resist the toxic impact of being sprayed with chemical pesticides and herbicides.

Another blend has been growing this summer, too. MotherJones.com reported that a drought-tolerant corn was approved by the USDA in December 2024. They said farmers could begin growing and testing this crop this summer. Given the drought we’ve had this year, it lent a perfect excuse for such a blend of corn. (more…)

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Lacy

Up to 70% of Supermarket Food is Genetically Modified – See How it Affects You

Ever since genetically modified foods entered the market in 1996, controversy has surrounded them. Genetically modified foods, also called GMOs (genetically modified organism) or genetically engineered foods, are products whose DNA has been altered in a way that would not occur naturally. This is done in order to produce a crop with bigger yields, insect resistance, virus protection, and herbicide tolerance, thus hopefully translating into bigger profits for producers and lower prices for consumers.

Genetically modified foods are a staple in most Americans’ diets whether they know it or not. Genetically modified crops include corn, soybeans, canola, cottonseed, sugar beets, squash, papaya, and a bevy of other foods. Most GM products are made with corn and soybeans, in one of their many forms, and cottonseed and canola oil. Many processed foods contain one or more of these four ingredients. Additionally, many products are manufactured with the help of animals given genetically modified food or growth hormones. This includes dairy products produced by cows given the rBGH hormone as well as egg-producing chickens given GM grains. (more…)

Posted on June 1, 2024 by SarahS

Monsanto Children’s Book is Nothing but Propaganda

Giant biotech company Monsanto has taken a bold move with their latest project. The company has released a children’s activity book that is aimed at teaching the goodness and beneficial effects of biotechnology. Many critics, and there are many, are calling the books nothing more than propaganda.

Monsanto has been responsible for many negatives actions in the past. Some of their fouls have included dumping toxic waste in the United Kingdom and polluting creeks in Alabama with Mercury and PCB materials for 40 years. One of the most hurtful acts was how Monsanto essentially bullied local, family-owned farms with high-priced lawyers and court fees causing many to lose their farms. While all the actions prior have caused an outcry, this new light hearted children’s book has struck an even deeper chord.

In the midst of gaining approval to begin growing the first genetically modified corn seed, Monsanto has collaborated with several other biotech companies to release Biotechnology Basics Activity Book. The aim of the book is to teach children about biotechnology. It is doubtful the book will take an objective view as one excerpt explains how the process is actually a positive step for the environment.

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Posted on April 5, 2024 by Lacy