Monsantos Harvest of ShameStephen Lendman It was a feature TV documentary series. Theyre not shown today. They told viewers what they need to know. Modern-day Murrows arent around. Theyre excluded from TV. They dont get air time. He discussed how American migrant agricultural workers are exploited. He and colleague Edward P. Morgan covered the issue on CBS Radio. CBS News president Fred Friendly called it natural for Murrow to pursue. He cared. He supported oppressed workers. It showed in his work. CBS featured whats no longer broadcast. Harvest of Shame aired in late November 1960. It was right after Thanksgiving Day. Co-producer David Lowe explained, saying: We felt (we) could stress the fact that much of the food cooked for Thanksgiving throughout the country was picked by migratory workers. We hoped that the pictures of how these people live and work would shock the consciousness of the nation. This scene is not taking place in the Congo, he said. It has nothing to do with Johannesburg or Cape Town. It is not Nyasaland or Nigeria. This is Florida. These are citizens of the United States, 1960. This is a shape-up for migrant workers. The hawkers are chanting the going piece rate at the various fields. This is the way the humans who harvest the food for the best-fed people in the world get hired. One farmer looked at this and said, We used to own our slaves. Now we just rent them. Nothing changed. Wage slavery proliferates across America. Its commonplace in garment factory sweatshops. Conditions for over two million farm workers are horrific. Theyre exploited. They work for sub-poverty wages without benefits. Florida workers have been chained to poles, physically beaten, cheated out of pay, and intimidated to stay quiet. Federal and state oversight is lax. Anything goes is policy. Its not just in Florida. California, Texas, Washington, North Carolina and other state agricultural workers are denied rights. Murrow closed, saying: The migrants have no lobby. Only an enlightened, aroused and perhaps angered public opinion can do anything about the migrants. The people you have seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do. Good night, and good luck. How would Murrow handle todays harvest of shame? How would he address GMO hazards? Hed pull no punches explaining. Hed say what needs to be told. Murrows arent on TV today. Theyre verboten. Corporate and state messages alone are aired. Anti-Murrow types feature them. Managed news misinformation substitutes for truth and full disclosure. Agribusiness and other corporate giants permit no other way. Monsantos the worlds leading GMO seed producer. Theyre hazardous to human health. They should be banned. GMO foods and ingredients are toxic. Theyre unsafe to eat. Independent studies prove it. Monsanto and other agribusiness giants want all animal and vegetable life forms patented. Whatever they want they get. They want worldwide food control. They proliferate stuff unsafe to eat. They want labeling prohibited. They want reliable science buried. They want issues of food safety ignored. They want critics silenced. They want consumers having no say. Profits alone matter. Food safety doesnt count. Maybe unwitting consumers wont notice. How can they without legislative protection? Without labeling, how can they know? Monsantos the industry giant. It controls 90% of the US GMO seed market. Its Roundup herbicide contaminates hundreds of millions of acres in America, Europe, South America, Australia and South Africa. Its other biopesticides increase contamination. March 2013 Monsanto Protection Act provisions prohibit courts from halting GMO seed sales. No matter how toxic, theyre permitted. No matter now harmful to human health, theyre OK. Monsantos bottom line alone matters. It buys enough influence to assure it. Staying healthy depends on avoiding harmful substances. Its not easy with too few other choices. Its harder without labeling. Its nearly impossible in America with Congress waging war on consumers. In May 2008, investigative journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele headlined their Vanity Fair article Monsantos Harvest of Fear. Its frightening tactics include ruthless legal battles against small farmers (and) decades-long history of toxic contamination. Perhaps no other corporation harms more people worldwide more horrifically. Its products harm human health. It does so on a massive scale. They proliferate painful illnesses and death. Gary Rineharts one of Eagleville, MOs few surviving businesses. Hes a Monsanto victim. He recalls a stranger verbally assaulting him. He claimed proof he planted GMO soybeans in violation of company patents. Come clean and settle, he was told. Otherwise, face consequences. Rinehart was incredulous. He knew about Monsanto viciousness. Its terror tactics are well-known. He knows it sues for alleged patent violations. Rineharts a country store owner. Hes not a farmer. He doesnt sell seeds. Eaglevilles a small town. Its population numbers around 350. He was furious about what happened. It made me and my business look bad, he said. He told the stranger: Youve got the wrong guy. He persisted saying: Monsanto is big. You cant win. We will get you. You will pay. These type scenes proliferate across America. Monsanto seed police terrorize farmers, farmer co-ops, seed dealers, and anyone it suspects infringe on its patent rights. They fan out into fields and farm towns. They spy. They secretly videotape farmers. They photograph them. They monitor store owners, co-ops, and community meetings. They get information from informants. They confront victims face-to-face. They want access to their records. They pressure them to sign papers granting it. Farmers call them seed police, Gestapo, and Mafia. They describe their ruthless tactics. Monsanto wont comment when asked. It spends more than $2 million a day in research to identify, test, develop and bring to market innovative new seeds and technologies that benefit farmers, it claims. It protects its patents. It terrorizes victims doing it. It does so besides harming human health on an unprecedented scale. It menaces humanity unconscionably. Its unapologetic. It wants all life forms patented. It wants total control of nature. Its making virtually everything Americans eat unsafe. It wants farmers refusing their seeds put out of business. Farming was unchanged for millennia. Food was safe to eat. Seeds were saved for replanting. Monsanto changed what worked. It turned nature on its head. In 1980, the Supreme Court turned seeds into widgets. It permitted dominant agribusiness giants to control world food production. It granted patent protection for live human-made microorganism(s). It wasnt a seed. It was GEs Pseudomonas bacterium. Its used to disperse oil spills. Doing so set a precedent. Monsanto took full advantage. It became the worlds largest GMO seed producer. It won hundreds of seed patents. Its more than other agribusiness giants combined. Farmers buying Roundup Ready seeds sign agreements. They promise not to replant. They pledge no resales. Theyre forced to buy new seeds annually. Theres no turning back. They reaped the whirlwind. Monsanto harvests a bonanza. It does so at their expense. And anyone eating foods and ingredients from their seeds. Some farmers dont understand company terms. Others ignore them. Some have no choice. GMO seeds blown on their lands liable them. At times, birds deposit them. Theyre stuck either way. Seed dealers inadvertently mix traditional seeds with GMO ones. They look the same. Laboratory analysis alone can tell. In 1980, no US GMO crops were grown. They now proliferate nationwide. They contaminate around 2.4 billion acres. Theyre grown worldwide in over two dozen countries. Monsanto wants them grown everywhere. It claims its seeds represent a giant leap for mankind. Users say otherwise. Company terror tactics made it feared and loathed. Controlling seeds is no abstraction, said Barlett and Steele. Whoever provides the worlds seeds controls the worlds food supply. Lawyers representing farmers Monsanto sues say intimidations part of its strategy. Most victims lose. Some give up and pay. Litigation costs are enormous. Monsanto can outspend any farmer, co-op, seed dealer, or other small business. No matter how valid a victims case, winnings nearly impossible. Strong-arm tactics prevent it virtually always. Resistance makes things worse. Doing so faces full-force company wrath. It reflects no-holds-barred terror. Monsantos determined to win. Doing so intimidates others not to contest. According to Center for Food Safetys Joseph Mendelson: I dont know of another company that chooses to sue its own customer base. Its a very bizarre business strategy. Monsanto does it because it works. Its the industrys dominant company. Legal victories increase its power. Its history is deplorable. For over 100 years, it produced products harming human health. Some were banned. Others continue to be sold. Its legacy includes Agent Orange, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), bovine growth hormone (rBHG), saccharin, aspartame, artificial caffeine, industrial fluids, pesticides, polystyrene, DDT, RoundUp (glyphosate) herbicide, and other products causing diseases and death. Proliferating GMO seeds are worst of all. They contaminate food supplies. Doing so poses an enormous threat to human health and welfare. Congress permits it. Whatever Monsanto wants it gets. Public safety doesnt matter. Its ignored for profit. Its hard imagining how many millions end up harmed. Doing so should cause alarm. Authorities should act responsibly. Instead, they ignore what everyone has a right to know. They permit what demand prohibiting. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is run by agribusiness and Big Pharma interests. Monsantos well represented. Michael Taylor serves as Deputy FDA Commissioner for Foods. Hes a former Monsanto vice president for public policy. Hes featured in company friendly documentaries. He spent decades representing its interests in Washington. He still does at FDA. Monsanto buys politicians like toothpaste. Its lobbyists infest Washington. They sell junk science. Independent analysis is verboten. Contaminated world food supplies proliferate. Monsanto made them unsafe to eat across America. Its doing so across many other parts of the world. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War.Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/ linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 