Monsanto: Profits Above Human HealthStephen Lendman March Against Monsanto (MAM) headlined Why Do We March? Independent research shows GMO foods and ingredients cause serious health conditions such as the development of cancer tumors, infertility and birth defects. Former Monsanto executives run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An obvious conflict of interest exists. Provisions of the March 2013 Monsanto Protection Act include ban(ning) courts from halting the sale of Monsantos genetically-modified seeds. For too long, Monsanto has been the benefactor of corporate subsidies and political favoritism. Organic and small farmers suffer losses while Monsanto continues to forge its monopoly over the worlds food supply, including exclusive patenting rights over seeds and genetic makeup. Monsantos GM seeds are harmful to the environment; for example, scientists have indicated they have contributed to Colony Collapse Disorder among the worlds bee population. Food hazardous to human health was produced. Nothing was done to stop it. Unsuspecting consumers ate it. Jack London said Sinclairs book depict(ed) what our country really is, the home of oppression and injustice, a nightmare of misery, an inferno of suffering, a human hell, a jungle of wild beasts. Theodore Roosevelt was president. Public outcry got results. The 1906 Pure Food Food and Drug Act became law. It fell short of full protection. It helped by prohibiting some of the worst abuses. Yesteryears reforms are gone. They no longer exist. Deregulation ended them. Profits alone matter. What corporate America wants it gets. It runs the country. Agribusiness and other industry sectors occupy Washington. They decide policy. They write laws Congress passes. Ordinary people have no say. Politicians are bought like toothpaste. Public health and environmental sanity are ignored. Corporate greed alone matters. Business officials run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHS), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other government agencies. Americas food supply suffers. Genetically modified ones proliferate. Theyre unsafe to eat. Theyre hazardous to human health. Independent studies prove it. Monsantos the worlds leading GMO seed producer. Its profiting at the expense of human health. It wants all animal and vegetable life forms patented. It wants global food control. It wants labeling prohibited. It wants reliable science buried. It wants issues of food safety ignored. It wants consumers to have no say. It wants critics silenced. It wants them discredited. It has enormous influence in Washington. It gets its own way. Its long past time that ended. Ordinary people must demand it. Food safety is too vital to ignore. The World According to Monsantochronicles its controversial history. Its a powerful film. It explains some of the most toxic products ever sold. Monsanto deception, pressure, collusion and bribery are standard tactics to do so. Secret documents are exposed. Firsthand accounts are presented. Victims, scientists, politicians and others tell their own stories. The film explains why Monsantos the worlds poster child for manipulating governments to permit hazardous products vital to prohibit. Its a wake-up call for mass action. Monsantos history includes some of the most hazardous products ever produced. They include Agent Orange, DDT, recombinant bovine growth hormone, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), aspartame, and Roundup herbicide among others. Jeffrey Smiths Institute for Responsible Technology calls Monsantos history Deception, Deception, Deception. Its why the company cant be trusted, he says. Its own documents later made public reveal Monsanto knew straightaway that many of its products are hazardous to human health. A company memo justified selling them. We cant afford to lose one dollar of business, it said. In December 2011, the Natural Society called Monsanto the Worst Company of 2011. It did so for threatening both human health and the environment. It controls 90% of the US GMO seed market. Its Roundup herbicide contaminates 120 million hectares in America, Europe, South America, Australia and South Africa. Its other biopesticides increase contamination. Corporate Accountability International conducts an annual poll. (W)e ask you, it says, to (choose) the worst of worst and induct the winner into our Corporate Hall of Shame. In 2012, Monsanto was chosen. It was (f)or mass producing toxic chemicals, aggressively running small farms out of business, and recklessly promoting (hazardous GMO) seeds that (harm human health and) exacerbate food scarcity globally again. Food Water Watch says Monsantos control over seeds harms farmers, the environment and the global economy. Its food system reach is formidable. Its seeds are responsible for about 86% of corn and around 93% of soybeans. Most processed foods include them. Monsanto wants GMOs proliferated globally. Washington actively promotes it. The State Department acts as an agribusiness biotechnology ambassador. It lobbies and pressures governments to permit GMO proliferation. It conducts public relations on behalf of industry giants. It ignores food safety issues. It opposes GMO labeling. US embassies are aggressively involved. Darcy OCallaghan is Food Water Watchs international policy director. She was interviewed on The Real News Network. She discussed 926 diplomatic cables. WikiLeaks published them. They revealed active State Department biotech promotion. Its done deceptively. False GMO seed claims are made. Governments are pressured. Food Water Watchs executive director Wenonah Hauter said (t)he US State Department is selling seeds instead of democracy. It campaigns on behalf of biotech giants. The State Department should not be flexing its diplomatic muscle to impose biotech crops on the developing world. Today, the US government is secretly negotiating major trade deals with Europe and the countries of the Pacific Rim that would force skeptical and unwilling countries to accept biotech imports, commercialize biotech crops and prevent the labeling of GE foods. This madness must stop. The US government should not be a shill for the largest biotech seed companies. According to National Family Farm Coalition president Ben Burkett: An overwhelming number of farmers in the developing world reject biotech crops as a path to sustainable agricultural development or food sovereignty. The biotech agriculture model using costly seeds and agrichemicals forces farmers onto a debt treadmill that is neither economically nor environmentally viable. Organic Consumers Association executive director Ronnie Cummins added: Its not surprising that Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow want to maintain and expand their control of the $15 billion global biotech seed market, but its appalling that the State Department is complicit in supporting their goals despite public and government opposition in several countries. American taxpayers money should not be spent advancing the goals of a few giant biotech companies. Food Water Watch wants both kept safe, accessible, affordable, and sustainably produced. Take Action, it urges. Everyone has a right to know what theyre eating. GMO foods and ingredients harm human health. Jeffrey Smiths investigative research links GMOs to toxic and allergic reactions, infertility, and damage to virtually every internal organ studied in lab animals. Monsanto and other biotech giants mislead governments. They put profits above human health and environmental sanity. Staying healthy begins with not ingesting harmful substances. Independent research reveals compelling evidence. GMOs harm human health. Monsantos the worlds largest seed producer. Its history reflects irresponsible behavior. According to Smith, it includes extensive bribery, highjacking of regulatory agencies, and suppressing negative information about its products. It threatens journalists and scientists who dare report them. It long ago proved it cant be trusted. On May 25, tens of thousands worldwide marched against Monsanto. They want governments assuring they get safe food. They want GMOs labeled. Not in America any time soon. On May 23, the Senate voted overwhelmingly against it. A Farm Bill amendment was defeated by a 71 27 vote. It lost despite the vast majority of Americans wanting labeling. People have a right to know. Consumer advocates demand it. What Monsanto wants it gets. Washington works that way. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 