Agricultural biotechnology multinational company Monsanto has a rockin’ facade. Their profile shines as the honest do-gooder, the scientist, the inventor, the Fortune 500, the farm savior. This constellation of identities forms a dangerous network of distrustful authority. Monsanto boasts that they are “producing more, conserving more, improving lives–that’s sustainable agriculture, that’s what Monsanto is about.” Fast farming is similar to fast money, however, as neither ranks people’s welfare or respect for land on its agenda. While Monsanto glows from an outsider’s perspective, everyone should be wary of the corporate giant, previously a leading chemical company, that is controlling their foods.
Monsanto’s claim that they are “meeting the needs of today while preserving the future of tomorrow” is a force-fed lie.
Monsanto innovates high-yield conventional biotech seeds, or GMO corn, soybean, cotton, wheat, canola, sorghum, sugar beets, alfalfa, sugar cane seeds, and bioherbicides. According to short-term studies performed by Monsanto, their bioseeds and technologies are healthy. Critical research, however, suggest GMO crops need to be researched further; the research on the safety of GMOs prematurely endorses Monsanto products and GMOs.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never conducted studies on GMO crops, even though 85 percent of corn products and 93 percent of soybeans grown in the United States are GMOs, according to Mother Jones’s Tom Philpott. Due to the high percentages of products that contain GMO ingredients, it is worrisome that the FDA has not sponsored studies that approve GMOs. Processed foods that contain GMO ingredients are not labeled, unlike the European Union who mandates GMO labeling; the only way for U.S. consumers to avoid GMOs is to eat organic. Eating organic is not a perfect alternative.
Mass suicides of farmers in India’s “suicide belt,” highlights one of Monsanto’s most egregious cases. During post-independence years, farmers planted GM Monsanto seeds with hopes to escape poverty. However, they became further entrenched in poverty due to the costly GM seeds. Most recently, Monsanto donated 7.1 million dollars to No on Prop 37, or Stop Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme. Proposition 37 is the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act which requires manufacturers to label GM foods and prohibits the “natural” food label.
A multi-billion dollar, trailblazing multi-national corporation, Monsanto is spotlighted on the world stage. Monsanto greedily prioritizes money-making “global commitments,” political bribery, and ballooning net sales even while their agriculturally, environmentally and socially irresponsible products, seeds and technologies attract positive media attention. The Sustainable Yield Program (Monsanto-jargon for their long-term imperialist growth) claims that “over the next four decades, the world will need to double food production to combat hunger, malnutrition and meet the needs of our fast-growing population.” Monsanto cast their net wide with 404 facilities in 66 countries, over 21 thousand employees, and a 75 thousand dollar annual state-level government donation fund. Monsanto’s products and their greedy fingers reach into the land, the media, and people’s bodies; we are filled with Monsanto.
Monsanto’s claim that they are “meeting the needs of today while preserving the future of tomorrow” is a force-fed lie. A corporate giant messing with biotechnology, agriculture, funding and imperialism is sketchy, dude.
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