Monsanto protests scheduled in 36 countries

[LateX'Dog]

An international protest planned for later this month against biotechnology company Monsanto is slated to span six continents and include demonstrations in dozens of countries around the globe.

Amid growing concerns over St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto and the impact the company is having on agriculture, activists have planned rallies for later this month in 36 countries.

Monsanto, a titan of the emerging biotech industry, has come under attack from environmentalists, agriculturalists and average consumers over the company’s conduct in the realm of genetically-modified organisms and genetically-engineered foods. Despite research on the effects of GMO crops being largely considered inconclusive, Monsanto has lobbied hard in Washington and around the globe to be able to continue manufacturing lab-made foods without the oversight that many have demanded.

In March, Congress passed a biotech rider dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act” by its critics that essentially allows that company and others that use GMOs to plant and sell genetically-altered products without gaining federal permission.

“The provision would strip federal courts of the authority to halt the sale and planting of an illegal, potentially hazardous GE crop while the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) assesses those potential hazards,” dozens of food businesses and retailers wrote Congress before the bill was passed.

http://rt.com/usa/monsanto-march-protests-world-069/

While commendable, this will achieve nothing. But figures are definitely crossed.

 

[Nitefly]

Monsanto are ridiculously reckless. The corners they cut with their GM products are unbelievable.

 

[Orionaut]

Monsanto are ridiculously reckless. The corners they cut with their GM products are unbelievable.

I am more concerned about the way Monsanto (et al) are using bio-technology to effectively take legal ownership of the Human food chain!

 

[wire-screw]

I don't know about this company but the worlds population is increasing and I think these people protesting should be the last ones to get any food when it's shorter than it is now because they are trying to stop advancements in tech.

All the people who say it'll be used to control people and the food chain this is the people behind it not the tech they are using.

 

[FishFluff]

Can someone link me to some independent studies showing that GM food is terrible or something? I can't be bothered to do any research and will otherwise just put this down to technology haters getting all uppity.

 

[deanolfc]

Here. Monsanto, Pioneer (DuPont) and Syngenta require anyone buying their GMO seeds to sign an agreement that explicitly forbids that the seeds be used for any independent research.

Mosanto Rat Tumors including kidney and liver damage

 

[~Mike~]

With the spiralling world population, GM crops are the future. Deal with it.

 

[deanolfc]

No?

 

[LateX'Dog]

Can someone link me to some independent studies showing that GM food is terrible or something? I can't be bothered to do any research and will otherwise just put this down to technology haters getting all uppity.

http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/gmcrops/2012GMC0020R.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512005637

Full paper here: http://research.sustainablefoodtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Final-Paper.pdf

http://www.bioscienceresource.org/documents/BSR3-VirusTranscomplementation.pdf

http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...ows-unborn-babies-could-be-harmed-522109.html

Unfortunately, it is impossible to verify that genetically modified crops perform as advertised. That is because agritech companies have given themselves veto power over the work of independent researchers.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-seed-companies-control-gm-crop-research

A battle is quietly being waged between the industry that produces genetically modified seeds and scientists trying to investigate the environmental impacts of engineered crops.

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/companies_put_restrictions_on_research_into_gm_crops/2273/

 

[aln]

I don't know about this company but the worlds population is increasing and I think these people protesting should be the last ones to get any food when it's shorter than it is now because they are trying to stop advancements in tech.

All the people who say it'll be used to control people and the food chain this is the people behind it not the tech they are using.

The problem with Monsanto isn't just that it's GM crops but also the legal battles they've fought over them based on cross polisation and such.

 

[Gilly]

I don't know about this company but the worlds population is increasing and I think these people protesting should be the last ones to get any food when it's shorter than it is now because they are trying to stop advancements in tech.

All the people who say it'll be used to control people and the food chain this is the people behind it not the tech they are using.

No-one is trying to stop advancements in tech :/

Not enough is known about the effect of GM on a human sustained solely by it. It's just not safe yet.

We don't know the environmental impact, we don't know the sustainability...

 

[Nitefly]

Can someone link me to some independent studies showing that GM food is terrible or something? I can't be bothered to do any research and will otherwise just put this down to technology haters getting all uppity.

GM is awesome. It's the irresponsible use of it that's the problem.

 

[mmj_uk]

You have to ask why Monsanto are being exalted to a status of being immune from prosecution in countries like the USA, they've been implicated in the collapse of bee colonies and what was it Einstein said about bees?

If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.

People are just afraid of technology I guess, lets risk it.

http://www.naturalnews.com/035688_Monsanto_honey_bees_colony_collapse.html

So what's the plan? just to let the bees die off without investigating if Monsanto is the cause and make everyone in the future reliant on Monsanto pollination technology as well as seeds?

Orionaut summed up my concerns nicely:

I am more concerned about the way Monsanto (et al) are using bio-technology to effectively take legal ownership of the Human food chain!

 

[MrMoonX]

monsanto likes to bankrupt innocent farmers whos crops are cross-polinated by nearby monsanto fields, as they sue them for unauthorised use of their seeds, its disgusting as the farmers do not have the money to fight the cases they just pay up and go broke

 

[LateX'Dog]

Melbourne

Japan

South Africa

Amsterdam

Auckland, New Zealand

New York

Washington DC

Ottawa, Canada

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/demonst...monsanto-in-global-anti-gmo-protest-1.1296661

And many more

Orlando, Florida, Cincinnati, Denver, East Texas, Boston and loads more.


The only new outlet that i know of that covered this was:

http://rt.com/news/march-against-monsanto-gmo-776/

Happy to be proven wrong.

 

[StriderX]

The problem isnt really Monsanto.

It is the fluid border (not even a border really) between Government and Corporate affairs, almost all of the big politicians were likely to be from Corporate backgrounds or guaranteed one after their terms.

As long as this goes on, the USA is a just massive playground with no sense of duty from the top down.

The only way to stop Monsanto however is to stop bothering at the source, the rest of the world however can block Monsanto's grip, as well most of us still actually like our food being of a genuine taste.

 

[robgmun]

Protests

And no one gave a blind bit of notice, protests very very very rarely work, even if they turn violent.

 

[kibblerok]

GM crops in the first world are unecessary and their benefits are so far overstated. The dream of GM crops were to create those resistant to disease and resistant to drought in places like Africa, these have not come into fruition. Instead they have been made to be resistant in the numerous chemicals they cover them in.

We were told yields would increase substantially, they have not done so. We were also told that less pesticides and herbicides would be used, the exact opposite has happened. In fact now we have weeds resistant to weed killers due to the soil being saturated in these chemicals, putting crops at risk.

You can't keep taking without losing something elsewhere, be it crop yields or the nutritional values of the produce. And if you have to go to the effort and expense of covering your fields in herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers just to get the crops to grow, then is it worth the effort?

Its becoming more and more apparent that its not. Hence why we see the heavy handed tactics from Monsanto such as litigating against non GM farmers and seed savers.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/p...=can-genetically-modified-crops-feed-09-04-16

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/02/us-usa-study-pesticides-idUSBRE89100X20121002

 

[arc@css]

I am more concerned about the way Monsanto (et al) are using bio-technology to effectively take legal ownership of the Human food chain!

+1

 

[badcompany]

I don't know about this company but the worlds population is increasing and I think these people protesting should be the last ones to get any food when it's shorter than it is now because they are trying to stop advancements in tech.

All the people who say it'll be used to control people and the food chain this is the people behind it not the tech they are using.

How is making plants that produce sterile seeds ethical it's a disaster waiting to happen.