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World Focus: The Bayer-Monsanto Merger Is Bad News for the Planet
Monday, April 09 @ 07:41:38 UTC |  By Ellen Brown
April 4, 2018 - ellenbrown.com
Bayer and Monsanto have a long history of collusion to poison the ecosystem for profit. The Trump administration should veto their merger not just to protect competitors but to ensure human and planetary survival.
Two new studies from Europe have found that the number of farm birds in France has crashed by a third in just 15 years, with some species being almost eradicated. The collapse in the bird population mirrors the discovery last October that over three quarters of all flying insects in Germany have vanished in just three decades. Insects are the staple food source of birds, the pollinators of fruits, and the aerators of the soil.
The chief suspect in this mass extinction is the aggressive use of neonicotinoid pesticides, particularly imidacloprid and clothianidin, both made by German-based chemical giant Bayer. These pesticides, along with toxic glyphosate herbicides (Roundup), have delivered a one-two punch against Monarch butterflies, honeybees and birds. But rather than banning these toxic chemicals, on March 21st the EU approved the $66 billion merger of Bayer and Monsanto, the US agribusiness giant producing Roundup and the genetically modified (GMO) seeds that have reduced seed diversity globally. The merger will make the Bayer-Monsanto conglomerate the largest seed and pesticide company in the world, giving it enormous power to control farm practices, putting private profits over the public interest.
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World Focus: Monsanto, the TPP and Global Food Dominance
Tuesday, November 26 @ 19:17:15 UTC |
By Ellen Brown
November 26, 2013 - ellenbrown.com
"Control oil and you control nations," said US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. "Control food and you control the people."
Global food control has nearly been achieved, by reducing seed diversity with GMO (genetically modified) seeds that are distributed by only a few transnational corporations. But this agenda has been implemented at grave cost to our health; and if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) passes, control over not just our food but our health, our environment and our financial system will be in the hands of transnational corporations.
Profits Before Populations
Genetic engineering has made proprietary control possible over the seeds on which the world's food supply depends. According to an Acres USA interview of plant pathologist Don Huber, Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, two modified traits account for practically all of the genetically modified crops grown in the world today. One involves insect resistance. The other, more disturbing modification involves insensitivity to glyphosate-based herbicides (plant-killing chemicals). Often known as Roundup after the best-selling Monsanto product of that name, glyphosate poisons everything in its path except plants genetically modified to resist it.
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World Focus: Food Justice: Monsanto, Factory Farming, and Beyond
Wednesday, May 29 @ 19:18:14 UTC | By Mickey Z.
May 28, 2013 -- World News Trust
“In nature's economy, the currency is not money, it is life.”
- Vandana Shiva
On May 25, 2013, millions marched against Monsanto across the globe. I took part here in New York City, of course, and was fortunate to have the opportunity to lead a teach-in called: “Food Justice, GMOs, & the Vegan Option (Eat Like a Revolutionary).”
The ostensible goals of this event included:
- Present GMOs as much more than a single issue.
- Suggest that GMOs offer a powerful entry point for outreach to the mainstream.
- Provide facts to be used for such outreach.
- Explain why there’s more to food justice than screaming “Fuck Monsanto.”
At the request of those who attended the teach-in, I’ve compiled some of the material in an article of sorts. This is not meant to be the definitive word on any of these topics. Rather, I strongly encourage all readers to follow-up with their own research and, of course, share what they find.
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World Focus: America's Masterplan is to Force GM Food on the World
Monday, February 13 @ 20:09:33 UTC | The reason the US took Europe to the WTO court was to prise open lucrative markets elsewhere
by John Vidal, guardian.co.uk
Just a few years ago, World Trade Organisation officials used to act hurt when described by social activists as irresponsible, secretive bureaucrats who trampled over national sovereignty and placed free trade over the environment or human rights. But that was when the global-trade policeman ruled on disputes that had little bearing on Europeans.
The WTO court's latest ruling will greatly increase the number of people who believe the organisation needs radical reform, if not burial. This week three judges emerged after years of secret deliberation to rule that Europe had imposed a de facto ban on Genetically Modified (GM) food imports between 1999 and 2003, violating WTO rules. The court also ruled that Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg had no legal grounds to impose their own unilateral import bans. "Europe guilty!" shouted the US press. "This is glorious news for the Bush administration," said one blogger.
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World Focus: Genetically Modified Lies or An Honest Mistake?
Tuesday, April 05 @ 19:18:31 UTC | An Honest Mistake?
by Liza Grandia, commondreams.org
Syngenta admitted this week that, for over four years, it "mistakenly" sold hundreds of tons of an experimental corn seed not yet approved for human consumption.
Contaminating the world's food supply is becoming a habit for big agribusiness.
Back in 2000, a genetically-modified (GM) corn called StarLink was discovered in Taco Bell tacos. Manufactured by Aventis, StarLink was modified to be more insect-resistant through the insertion of a bacterial toxin into the corn's DNA. When eaten, however, it can provoke intense allergic reactions, including anaphylactic shock. The EPA had banned StarLink corn from human consumption, but allowed it to be grown for animal feed and let Aventis regulate itself. Mysteriously, though, StarLink corn ended up at Taco Bell. In the ensuing scandal, more than 300 food products were recalled. But the story didn't end there.
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World Focus: Genetic Material Fallout from Mexico to Zambia
Sunday, October 27 @ 12:10:10 UTC | By ETC
Group, www.etcgroup.org, Oct. 26, 2002
The Year of Playing Dangerously The Great Containment:
Genentic Material Fallout from Mexico to Zambia
Thirteen months ago, the agbiotech industry wakened
to a nightmare. Illegal and unwelcome, the presence of genetically-modified
(GM) maize was reported smack in the crop's center of genetic
origin in Mexico. There's never a good time for a political/ecological
calamity, but the beleaguered Gene Giants were already struggling
to persuade consumers, following the Taco Debacle (Starlink),
that companies could control their inventions and their inventory.
The seed companies were also hoping to arm-twist EU ministers
into lifting the ban on GM products in Europe. Suddenly, the
headlines were full of the contamination scandal.
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