Eight ways Monsanto is destroying our health

Lots of talk these days about the bullying of young boys and girls in school by more aggressive students. This brings to my mind the biggest bully of all: the biotech company, Monsanto Corporation.

Taken in context, Monsanto’s list of corporate crimes should have been enough to pull their corporate charter years ago. And yet we allow them to continue to destroy our food supply, our health and the planet. Monsanto or Monsatan?

Take a look at the company’s track record and decide for yourself.

Agent Orange: Monsanto was the major financial beneficiary of this herbicide used to defoliate the jungles of Vietnam and destroy the health of American troops and their offspring. It also allowed Monsanto and other chemical companies to appeal for and receive protection from veterans seeking damages for their exposure to Agent Orange and any future biotech creations.

Aspartame: As far back as 1994, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report listing 94 health issues caused by aspartame. It has been shown to cause slow but serious damage to the human body and yet it is used extensively in many commercial products.

Saccharin: Studies have shown that saccharin caused cancer in test rats and mice; and in six human studies, including one done by the National Cancer Institute, that consuming artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin and cyclamate, resulted in bladder cancer.

Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH): A genetically modified hormone injected into dairy cows to produce more milk, despite the fact that more milk was needed. The cows suffer excruciating pain due to swollen udders and mastitis. The pus from the infection enters the milk supply requiring more antibiotics to be given to the cows. BST milk may also cause breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer in humans.

RoundUp: The world's most commonly used herbicide and weed killer has been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, in a study by eminent oncologists Dr. Lennart Hardell and Dr. Mikael Eriksson of Sweden. Used on genetically modified crops resistant to RoundUp's active ingredient glyphosate, environmentalists and health professionals are concerned that far from reducing herbicide use, glyphosate-resistant crops may result in increased residues in food to which consumers will be exposed.

Genetically Modified Crops (GMO): Monsanto created Frankenfoods by gene-splicing corn, cotton, soy, and canola with DNA from a foreign source. Consequently these crops are resistant to massive doses of the herbicide, RoundUp, but in turn herbicide-resistant superweeds are taking over. After running into resistance in the west, Monsanto is pushing GMO crops in third-world countries.

According to physicist, ecologist, and activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, “Syugenta and Monsanto are rushing ahead with the mapping and patenting of the rice genome. If they could, they would own rice and its genes, even though the 200,000 rice varieties that give us diverse traits have been bred and evolved by rice farmers of Asia collectively over millennia. Their claim to inventing rice is a violence against the integrity of biodiversity and life forms; it is a violence against the knowledge of third-world farmers.”

Terminator Seeds: A technology that produces sterile grains unable to germinate, forcing farmers to buy seeds from Monsanto rather than save and reuse the seeds from their harvest. Terminators can cross-pollinate and contaminate local non-sterile crops putting in danger the future seed supply and eventually giving control of the world’s food supply to Monsanto and the GM industry.

Standard American Diet: According to the Organic Consumers Association, “There is a direct correlation between our genetically engineered food supply and the $2 trillion the U.S. spends annually on medical care, namely an epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases.

Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal products, U.S. factory farms and food processors produce a glut of genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Low fruit and vegetable consumption is directly costing the United States $56 billion a year in diet-related chronic diseases.”


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ygreen/20110...dodHdheXNtb24-

RoundUp: The world's most commonly used herbicide and weed killer has been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, in a study by eminent oncologists Dr. Lennart Hardell and Dr. Mikael Eriksson of Sweden. Used on genetically modified crops resistant to RoundUp's active ingredient glyphosate, environmentalists and health professionals are concerned that far from reducing herbicide use, glyphosate-resistant crops may result in increased residues in food to which consumers will be exposed.

Just to give you an idea, the half-life of glyphosate is fairly short. In addition, glyphosate is a water-soluble compound, and the elimination rate in rats and rabbits is 100% in 48 hours. This is not to be confused with fat-soluble insecticides, which bioaccumulate over time to cause many problems, such as DDT that caused many of our hawks, eagles, and falcons to suffer in the 1950s-60s because it interfered with calcium deposition in egg shells.

Glyphosate is one of the most commonly used chemicals for land management because, as far as chemicals go, it's relatively safe. It's acute toxicity is actually less than that of table salt. When used at the labeled rate and with proper safety equipment, it's safe. When dispersed over a landscape, concentrations are very low. With any chemical, if you work continuously with it as part of your job, there is always a chance for risk.

It's very easy to blame chemical companies for producing these chemicals, when in actuality it's the market that demands them. Any substance is dangerous in excess. The truth of the matter is that if this company didn't produce them, somebody else would. Chemicals are not 'evil', as many of these articles would lead you to believe. They are a tool. When used properly, their benefits are enormous.

Standard American Diet: According to the Organic Consumers Association, “There is a direct correlation between our genetically engineered food supply and the $2 trillion the U.S. spends annually on medical care, namely an epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases.

Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal products, U.S. factory farms and food processors produce a glut of genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Low fruit and vegetable consumption is directly costing the United States $56 billion a year in diet-related chronic diseases.”

This is like asking the Humane Society if euthanasia is bad. Obesity due to fried foods, food preparation, and changing lifestyles is the primary factor driving increased medical care and costs. To say there is a "direct correlation" is a complete falsehood, and no scientist would be caught making such a statement. In science, there is the phrase that "correlation does not imply causation." Take this, for example: Children raised in homes with more appliances tend to perform better in school. Therefore, appliances improve intelligence. There is a correlation, but does that mean appliances actually improve intelligence? Could there be another factor to explain it? Perhaps the wealth of the parents who can afford the appliances, and therefore send their kids to better schools?

This article is riddled with bias and the author seems to have his own agenda in mind. I have no choice but to dismiss it.

It's good to know other people are aware of Monsanto it seems most people prefer to stick their head in the sand.

How many people are aware of Agenda 21, all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together...

Ah, I'm going to crack open a beer and go see what's on the tube....

j/k

That bit about the "terminator seeds" is particularly worrisome. Sounds like the preface for a science fiction thriller whereby the entire food supply of the planet gets decimated when eventually every food bearing plant becomes sterile.

So how many different ways is humanity playing around with to potentially exterminate the entire race?

WOW I've only heard of the agent orange and DDT. This shows how hard they try to keep it where no one heres about them.

Uh... Dustin, hate to tell you, but all of those topics listed above have been heavily discussed for the past 20-30 years. None of this is new. It's just a new article on an old debate.

Besides the heath debate and the other topic of agendas, there is another story.

Monsanto is not merely a capitalistic entity, it's a serious threat to every free person on this planet.

The power to grow your own food and put what you chose in your own body is seriously threaten. What they have done to individual farmers is a crime protected by unjust laws. Those that don't bend to their will pay a heavy price.

Many of their tactics have been well documented.

Uh... Dustin, hate to tell you, but all of those topics listed above have been heavily discussed for the past 20-30 years. None of this is new. It's just a new article on an old debate.

I guess that just shows my age lol. I turn 25 next week and just started to have concerns regarding rights and different types of legislation in the past year. Theres so much out there to be educated on where does a person start. This is really great info though.

Originally Posted by Dennis Hultman

Besides the heath debate and the other topic of agendas, there is another story.

Monsanto is not merely a capitalistic entity, it's a serious threat to every free person on this planet.

The power to grow your own food and put what you chose in your own body is seriously threaten. What they have done to individual farmers is a crime protected by unjust laws. Those that don't bend to their will pay a heavy price.

Many of their tactics have been well documented.

Unfortunately, this article does not back up that argument as written. Calling the company a bully and then referencing the products it has developed as 'proof' it's a bully is like calling an ice cream shop a bully for offering a flavor of ice cream you don't like. There's no real discussion about business policies or evidence suggesting foul play. All of those chemicals were at one point sanctioned by the FDA and USDA (and many still are in use).

I'm not saying they're right or wrong, but they simply don't present the information that is required to come to their conclusions. This is like posting in the BOI without any correspondence between you and a bad seller/buyer. As this article is written, it is merely media sensationalism with no facts to back up their arguments.

I wish every person in this world could read this. I have been studying the food industry and there is nothing more evil the monsanto