# So tell me about Monsanto.



## be11ydancer (Dec 2, 2003)

I thought they were a seed company.







: But apparently they sell insecticides and bovine growth hormone?? What the heck kind of a company is Monsanto? Is this another thing that's going to get me all fired up? Tell me what you know please.


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## Persephone (Apr 8, 2004)

Monsanto is the devil, basically.

http://www.ethicalinvesting.com/monsanto/

There is a link around here somewhere (do a search in the Activism forum) about a farmer who was brought to ruin by them, but I can't find it. I suppose the one above, that I just googled will have to do.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

I thnk they are a huge multinational conglomerate. You already know about their seed monopoly in which they sell super seeds which produces plants that have no viables seeds which

#1 makes a farmer/gardener completely dependent on them season after season;

#2 ends the farmer to farmer sharing of seeds from plants that are apparently resistant to certain pests and conditions; individual development of any new crop is left to the chemistry labs;

#3 puts control of the world food supply in the hands of one multinational conglomerate - do you trust them?

Yes they make lots of insecticides and growth hormones.

I supppose there is a website around; I am not completely computer savvy, but I will look...


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## be11ydancer (Dec 2, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *applejuice*

#3 puts control of the world food supply in the hands of one multinational conglomerate - do you trust them?


Holy crap. So they're playing God? How do you avoid them? By seed company, I thought at first that they were like Burpee or something. I'm putting the pieces of information I've heard together. Isn't someone in the BushCo. cabinet a chairman at Monsanto? Didn't some kind of law get passed in Iraq about not being able to save seeds? Thinking, thinking...


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *be11ydancer*
Holy crap. So they're playing God? How do you avoid them? By seed company, I thought at first that they were like Burpee or something. I'm putting the pieces of information I've heard together. Isn't someone in the BushCo. cabinet a chairman at Monsanto? Didn't some kind of law get passed in Iraq about not being able to save seeds? Thinking, thinking...





























I do not know if anyone in the Bush administration is or was involved at Monsanto (I would not be at all surprised







), HOWEVER, I know for an absolute fact that Al Gore and his family are heavily invested in r-BST, a growth howmone that is used for dairy cows and is a Monsanto product. Alta Dena and Tillamook dairies proudly label their dairy products as r-BST free.

You can read www.monsanto.com and see what they have to say for themselves. Reading their own propaganda can be very telling also.

Thank you Persephone for that link. They are truly the devil in corporate clothing.


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## be11ydancer (Dec 2, 2003)

I found this link to be helpful. A google search turns up lots of these:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0307/S00149.htm

So I'm starting a vege garden this year. I bought all my seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed co. Would they have anything to do with Monsanto? If I buy generic garden soil to put in my garden, will this be Monsanto tainted? If my ears itch, is it because of Monsanto??


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## be11ydancer (Dec 2, 2003)

Here's another good link. Apparently, the head of the *EPA* is a former Monsanto exec.







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http://www.purefood.org/gefood/epadump.cfm


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *be11ydancer*
Here's another good link. Apparently, the head of the *EPA* is a former Monsanto exec.







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:







:

http://www.purefood.org/gefood/epadump.cfm

I believe that is putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, or something like that...

Thank you.


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## stafl (Jul 1, 2002)

Grab a copy of Organic Gardening magazine. At least back when I had a subscription, each issue was filled with the most recent evils of Monsanto. I bet their website has lots of eye-opening information, too.


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## melissa17s (Aug 3, 2004)

I haven't checked all of the links posted, but isn't Monstanto responsible for star link ge corn? In fact aren't they responsible for almost all ge and gmo foods? Pioneer and Conagra are also in this boat of infertile modified seeds as Monsanto. Unfortunately, here they do a lot of test crops, so we are probably getting exposure to their pollens and insecticides/herbicides/genocides through the stuff that is not supposed to drift with the wind.


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## brookely ash (Apr 9, 2003)

I get sooo very scared thinking about Monsanto and all the creepy, power hungry, money grubbing, evil that they are spreading around the world. Trying to force the farmers in Iraq to only buy their seeds.

Grrrr....

I think you need a positive story, be11ydancer,here is the story of a dairy in the Pacific NW winning a battle w/ Monsanto....

small steps, but I sure as heck am very happy about it!!


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## Persephone (Apr 8, 2004)

Bellydancer, I skimmed that article, and didn't see anything about Baker Creek in it. What makes you think they're in bed with Monsanto?

Heirloom seeds are the opposite of what Monsanto does. They are open pollinated seeds that have been around for many years, and you can save the seeds from one year to the next. Not only are they not GMOs, they're not even hybrids! My garden will ONLY have heirloom seeds this year! (And every year after that.)


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## Throkmorton (Jun 30, 2003)

Monsanto is evil, evil, evil. They are the reason i refuse to eat foods with canola oil (a surprisingly hard thing to do)
Please read Mr Schmeiser's web site to get an idea on what they do to farmers, and what they will start doing to US farmers very soon. http://www.percyschmeiser.com/


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## stillnominivan (Apr 16, 2002)

I was hired to work at a booth promoting Roundup at the Seattle Home Show when I was 18. I had never heard of Monsanto before that but LOTS of people stopped to tell me how nasty and evil the product and the company are. Horrible, awful experience. I was so embarrassed.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *stafl*
Grab a copy of Organic Gardening magazine. At least back when I had a subscription, each issue was filled with the most recent evils of Monsanto. I bet their website has lots of eye-opening information, too.

Yes, YES!

"Organic Gardening" Magazine is published by the same folk who publish "Prevention" Magazine.

Some pretty good stuff.


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## PikkuMyy (Mar 26, 2004)

Please go to www.organicconsumers.org to read all about Monsanto and GMOs.

There's a revolving door between the EPA/USDA/Monsanto. It's shocking.

You can't say enough horrible things about them. They are truely evil. And guess what is written into the new Iraqi constitution? That they have to buy seeds from Monsanto, meaning of course, that they can't save them from year to year but must rebuy them and can't use their own centuries-old seeds.

Heirloom seeds are wonderful and create a variety of produce and flowers that can rarely be bought in stores any more.


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## be11ydancer (Dec 2, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Persephone*
Bellydancer, I skimmed that article, and didn't see anything about Baker Creek in it. What makes you think they're in bed with Monsanto?

Heirloom seeds are the opposite of what Monsanto does. They are open pollinated seeds that have been around for many years, and you can save the seeds from one year to the next. Not only are they not GMOs, they're not even hybrids! My garden will ONLY have heirloom seeds this year! (And every year after that.)

I was just being paranoid. I'm new to gardening and am just making sure I'm not getting seeds from the wrong company. Baker Creek seemed like the best for the seeds I was looking for and I was just wanting to make sure there were no ties to Monsanto at all. I'm sure there aren't. It wouldn't make sense, now that I know what Monsanto is exactly.


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## be11ydancer (Dec 2, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PikkuMyy*
Please go to www.organicconsumers.org to read all about Monsanto and GMOs.

There's a revolving door between the EPA/USDA/Monsanto. It's shocking.

You can't say enough horrible things about them. They are truely evil. And guess what is written into the new Iraqi constitution? That they have to buy seeds from Monsanto, meaning of course, that they can't save them from year to year but must rebuy them and can't use their own centuries-old seeds.

Heirloom seeds are wonderful and create a variety of produce and flowers that can rarely be bought in stores any more.










I just bought seeds for a type of watermelon from Baker Creek called "Ali Baba". It's a species of watermelon that's been grown in Iraq for a long time. Hope I can get them to grow, as it's my first try.

How can anyone ever think that we have any good intentions in Iraq at all after reading about them not being able to save seeds, of all things? That's dumb and sad and horrible and sick. Thanks for the info.


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## ladyelmo1 (Aug 23, 2003)

Monsanto in the last year filed a lawsuit against a local, family owned and operated dairy here in Maine. Goliath vs. David, big time. The reason was that the dairy had a label that read "our farmer's pledge, no artificial growth hormones" and Monsanto felt it was discriminatory.

found this website from Google: http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporat...rst_wired.html

I don't know anything about the organization, so don't take it as an endorsement, but it's a good article and covers the growth hormone issue very effectively.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

I just read that they bought three seed companies in the last five months.

American, Expedia, and Genetics seeds. (I think)


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## be11ydancer (Dec 2, 2003)

So I was looking at Monsanto's web site and came up with the following. I don't have a link, as it was a pop-up from their home page:

Quote:

As the number of people in the world keeps growing, so does our need for energy. But energy that comes from fossil fuel is in limited supply. Once we use up what's in the ground, it is gone forever.
Biofuels, like ethanol and biodiesel, are a renewable source of energy. They are made from plants, so our supply can be generated over and over. And biofuels go a long way toward reducing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions. The Renewable Fuels Association says that ethanol, made from corn, reduces tailpipe carbon monoxide emissions by as much as 30 percent.
Biofuels also reduce dependence on oil. More than half of the oil used in the U. S. is imported. At present, less than 2 percent of the gasoline in the U. S. uses an ethanol blend. Consider what it would mean if everyone used gasoline that was 10 percent, or more, ethanol made from crops.
Monsanto has a dedicated bioenergy team researching ways to use biotechnology and conventional breeding techniques to improve the quantity and quality of bioenergy.
Imagine an economical, renewable energy source.
Imagine innovative agriculture that creates incredible things today.
So if this company produces seeds that are genetically engineered, is it such a bad thing if they use that technology to produce a new kind of fuel to replace gasoline???







: I'm thinking that if anything can lessen our dependency on foreign fuel, than I'm o.k. with it, even if it does come from Monsanto. What do you think??? Where do you draw the line when it comes to stuff like this?


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## PikkuMyy (Mar 26, 2004)

Imagine a non-edible plant that Monsanto engineers to be used solely for biofuel that then gets pollinated by bees who carry it to regular food crops and contaminates them so that they are no longer edible.

Imagine all the animals that eat that crop and what happens to them and the animals that feed on them when they die.

Imagine the deals Monsanto would make with new types of engines so that you'd have no choice but to use Monsanto's fuel.

ETA: P.S. Monsanto doesn't give one genetically-engineered fig about the environment. If they did, they wouldn't have been and be involved in such environmental disasters in their quest for COLD HARD CASH.


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## brookely ash (Apr 9, 2003)

So, biodiesel may be a good solution to one of our many energy crisis, but it is not the answer. It will not be able to handle our HUGE need for fossil fuels. There is currently not enough non GMO corn and canola available to use for biodiesel, so companies such as Sequential have to buy GMO corn right now to make the fuel.

Cargill Dow is currently making a corn derived plastic container that Newman's Organic's is using for their Mesclun salad mix. But again, it is coming from GMO corn. I was at a conferenece where their rep wouldn't devulge company secrets and share information about how the plastic container was made. They ONLY CARE ABOUT MAKING MONEY!!!!! Everyone else in the room at this conference was more than willing to share ideas on making the environment better. It was only the GIANT chemical corp. of Dow that didn't want to share.

The frightening thing about GMO is we do not yet know the ill effects that it is destined to have on the planet. We do not know what will happen when our landfills are filled w/ it and like Pikku said, when animals become dependent upon it as well as farmer's who cannot make seed and have to continuely BUY their seeds from Monsanto. Monsanto will eventually OWN these farmer's!

Bio Fuels are a good way to ease our current dependancy upon gasoline but I do not beleive it can be the answer unless the corn that is used to make it is organic. And even still we are a long way off from switching everything over. Please do not think that I hate biodiesel or anything, because it is better than burning up gas (the waste on shipping the gas alone is astronomical) and I plan on switching my home furnace to atleast a 20% biodiesel blend next year, but Monsanto is only trying to LOOK as if they give a flying &%#@ about the planet. THEY DO NOT CARE! And they would LOVE it if we became totally dependent upon their seeds.


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## be11ydancer (Dec 2, 2003)

Wow, that's a lot to think about. It is all about the bottom line, I just have to keep remembering that. I've been thinking about all the non-organic stuff I get at the grocery store (I currently only get organic dairy and meat) and there's a lot of it. So is it safe to assume that if I buy anything from the store that's not organic, Monsanto has something to do with it??


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## Little Bear's Mama (Mar 20, 2003)

http://www.chemicalindustryarchives....epth/intro.asp
http://www.truthout.org/docs_01/01.02C.Monsanto.Hid.htm

Enough said.

I'm DISGUSTED to hear about the Iraqi seeds...I wonder what we,as Americans,can do to stop this before it starts?


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## Unoppressed MAMA Q (Jun 13, 2004)

my co-op just started using those new corn containers. yuk.


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## brookely ash (Apr 9, 2003)

It really sucks, because the idea of corn derived plastic is GREAT! I am just so sad that someone is trying to line their pockets in the process. It "should" be done out of respect/love for the earth. I do think its good that atleast the people are pretty much demanding change right now. We'll have to wait and see if much can get accomplished.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *brookely ash*
It really sucks, because the idea of corn derived plastic is GREAT! I am just so sad that someone is trying to line their pockets in the process. It "should" be done out of respect/love for the earth. I do think its good that atleast the people are pretty much demanding change right now. We'll have to wait and see if much can get accomplished.

Nothing in this world is done out of love and respect for the earth, so get past that.

Everything is done for the almighty $.

Do not ever forget it.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Always follow the money trail.$$$$$$$$$--->

Watch where it leads you.


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## brookely ash (Apr 9, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *applejuice*
Nothing in this world is done out of love and respect for the earth, so get past that.

I don't think that is something that my soul will ever really be able to get past, but I have accepted it and I am well aware of it.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *brookely ash*
I don't think that is something that my soul will ever really be able to get past, but I have accepted it and I am well aware of it.

i guess you are correct.








T, but pertinent...

DH and I saw a British docudrama on PBS of the heroin trade in the UK, where addicts can be registered and controlled (?)

In the course of the show, it became obvious that the people who ran the illegal heroin trade were the same people who also ran the rehabilitation centers.

Nothing like guaranteeing yourself a niche.

Follow the $ trail.


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## brookely ash (Apr 9, 2003)

Applejuice, that is a really sad story...

I found this article on GMO ...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.....ap/index.html

It talks about the percentage of GMO products that the average person consumes. Its rather scary.

My favorite part was the last line....

Quote:

"It's left up to the *good nature* of Monsanto or DuPont or other companies to do the right thing," said Gregory Jaffe, director of the biotechnology project at CSPI.
[/B]


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

I believe the motto for Monsanto was formerly "Better Living Through Chemistry".

B.S.


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## crunchyconmomma (Feb 6, 2003)

Seeds of Deception by Jefferey Smith is a good read on how Monsanto is the antichrist. more like a John Grisham novel. my husband, after learning about them, starting "diversifying our portfolio" by investing in heirloom seeds and bought the bumper sticker for his car: "Monsanto, stop playing God. We won't eat genetically modified 'foods."


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## misfit (Apr 2, 2003)

I have never been more tempted to boycott a company than I have Monsanto -- I do think they are about as demonic as it comes -- but how to boycott when so much of their products are not sold to consumers? Any suggestions?

ETA: So who makes RoundUp? Scotts Miracle-Gro or Monsanto? Does anyone here boycott Scotts Miracle-Gro/Ortho/Smith & Hawkens?


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## loveharps (Mar 16, 2005)

Monsanto has recently been found guilty of bribing government officials in Indonesia.

It has to be the most corrupt multi-national company ever. I get so riled up when I start thinking about Monsanto.

Monsanto makes roundup. It also makes seeds where the only pesticide that works on them is roundup, so farmers buy seeds from them, and then they need to buy the roundup from them and so on and so on























I also heard that the US has just pushed a new law through in Iraq, saying that farmers aren't aloud to save their seeds anymore, something they've been doing for centurys.


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## NatureMama3 (Feb 25, 2004)

how to boycott?

learn about food, grow as much of your own as you can and buy heirloom varieties to do so (or at LEAST don't buy hybrids/GMO). Save your own seeds and participate in seed sharing programs.

learn about permaculture and how to grow your foods using only natural amendments (plants to deter bugs, etc).

Learn about the foods you use and find alternatives, for now at least they're still out there.

Participate in organic co-ops and similar organizations to produce and distribute locally grown non-hybrid/gmo foods.

Cook from scratch!

It takes time, but it's well worth it to be able to either not contribute or contribute less to companies like Montesano that are just pure evil.

Here's another good resource:

http://www.badcorp.org


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