Millions March Against MonsantoBrad Jordan Fight for your right to eat food Tired of not being able to trust your food? Tired of all the food deserts in this country, where theres no choice other than which nasty fast-food place to drive-thru? Tired of federal regulators banning nutrient-dense foods, like raw milk from pasture-raised cows? Tired of not knowing whats genetically modified and whats not? Tired of things being labeled natural when theyre not? Tired of being sick and tired? If you answered yes to any of the above, then its time to rise up off of your couch, grab a pitchfork, and join the worldwide March Against Monsanto, May 25. Who is Monsanto? For those of you who dont know, Monsanto is the largest producer of pesticides, herbicides and genetically engineered crop seeds in the world. The agribusiness giant has been playing God with our food supply over the last several decades by changing the DNA of staple crops in the United States like corn, soy, sugar beets, canola and cottonseed. These crops are found in one form or another in almost every processed, pre-packaged food in the grocery store, even though safety of their manmade genetic mutations is hotly disputed. The company responsible for DDT, PCBs and Agent Orange wants us to take its word for it that its modern insecticides, like BT, and herbicides, like Roundup, are safe. And it also wants us to swallow the seeds it genetically engineered to withstand those chemicals, like Roundup-Ready corn, soy, canola, sugar beets, cottonseed and now wheat, and Bt cotton, corn and soy. But these products have been linked to cancer, birth defects and infertility. Theyve also been blamed for dangerously depleting the worlds bee population, destroying biodiversity and producing food that is nutritionally deficient and it can be argued that nutritional deficiency is at the root of all kinds of disease. Monopoly Monsantos rise to power did not come easy. Without the help of government in the form of intellectual property rights or patents, cash subsidies, regulation of its competitors, and a justice system stacked in its favor Monsanto wouldnt be the powerhouse it is today. Intellectual property rights One of the key tools Monsanto and a handful of other biotech giants including DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer and Land O Lakes have used to cartelize the worlds seed supply is U.S. patent law. 82 percent of all seeds for sale in the world are genetically modified and patented by about a dozen companies. Intellectual property laws allow people to own intangible property like works of music, literature or art, words, phrases, symbols, designs, discoveries, inventions, or, in Monsantos case, genetic codes. Monsanto owns all of the seeds and by extension the crops they produce in the world that contain their genetic codes. Should a company own the genes of plants, such as corn, soy, or canola? Well, Monsanto does. They own the rights to how a seed is made and used, preventing farmers from saving seeds from their harvest or storing them for future planting seasons. By not being able to store seeds or use their offspring, farmers are handcuffed to Monsanto as returning customers, each and every year. If Monsanto finds any part of their GM gene in another crop, even if its one splice, theyll come after you. Monsanto argues it needs patents to recover its investment into this planet-saving technology. Monsanto patents many of the seed varieties we develop. Patents are necessary to ensure that we are paid for our products and for all the investments we put into developing these products, it says on the companys website. The question isnt whether Monsanto should get paid for its product it should, once but rather how long it should be allowed to extort money from farmers and consumers for its intangible invention. It just seems so unnatural, for there even to be a seed industry, when seeds themselves are oh so abundant in nature. Monsanto has no natural right to own nature, even though U.S. patent law has granted them such a right. If a farmer buys a seed, he should be able to do whatever he wants with it grow it, reproduce it, sell it, or whatever. If I create a delicious meal and share it with someone, and they figure out how to recreate it, I dont have the right to prevent them from making that same dish, or to sue them for stealing my intellectual property. Or, if I grow a tomato and sell it to someone, they should have the right to keep its seeds, plant them, or throw it at a politician if they want to, without the threat of prosecution for stealing my mystical invention. But Monsantos doesnt want you to have that type of freedom. Their henchmen snoop around farm fields searching for some plant that may have cross pollinated with one of their seeds that fell off some guys truck, which the farmer doesnt even know about in most cases, and sue the pants off of him. The courts side with the GM giant every time. Cronyism Monsanto has created quite a cozy (to say it mildly) relationship with government officials. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for instance, was a former attorney for Monsanto. Shockingly enough, he just sided with Monsanto in a case involving a 75-year old farmer who saved his GM seeds, from one season to the next, a practice that has been done regularly in farming for hundreds, if not thousands of years. If being in bed with Clarence wasnt bad enough, here comes Michael Taylor, the FDAs food czar. He also worked as an attorney representing Monsanto. One of the many things this regulatory agency is in charge of is labeling. Thats why there are no GM food labels out there. Monsanto doesnt want you to look up what genetically modified means. And if you thought buying off food czars and judges was enough to solidify their foodopoly, you better think again. Monsanto, along with other GM food producers, spent millions to stop Proposition 37, a bill in California that would have required food companies to label GM ingredients. That bill was enough to scare the GM poop right out of them. So they did what any monopolistic company would do, ask the government for more help. And, like any good money-grubbing politicians would do, they obeyed, attaching the Monsanto Rider to a budget bill. As many of you have heard, Obama who, in his first presidential election campaign, called for the labeling of GMOs recently inked into law the Monsanto Protection Act, which protects Monsanto from frivolous lawsuits. To the Streets The Monsanto Protection Act is the final straw for some folks. Hippies, farmers, food lovers and liberty lovers, prepare to unite. Lets pack the streets, even if it is a holiday weekend, and March Against Monsanto, May 25, 2 p.m. Eastern. Join the revolution If youre still not with me, fine. You can sit home on the couch and watch Dancing with the Stars, drinking a Big Gulp and eating a bag of GM corn Doritos. Ill head to the streets and peacefully protest against these real-food assassins. While we march, let us not forget, it takes two to tango. It was government who granted Monsanto all this power in the first place, through patent laws, backdoor deals, and bribes. While Im mad at Monsanto, Im equally irate at our benevolent government. Politicians dont have to take the money, dont have to make laws that protect precious intellectual property, but they do. So, Ill be waving two signs at the March one protesting Monsanto and one protesting the government. I dont need poster board or paper though just two hands and two fingers. Please like Food Riot Radio on Facebook. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 