Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds
Tuesday 18 May 2010
by: Beverly Bell, t r u t h o u t | Report
Jonas Deronzil from Verrettes has been farming since 1974. Like small producers throughout Haiti, his meager income from corn, rice and beans is threatened by new competition from Monsanto. (Photo: Beverly Bell)
"A new earthquake" is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto's seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.
In an open letter sent May 14, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the executive director of MPP and the spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay (MPNKP), called the entry of Monsanto seeds into Haiti "a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds ... and on what is left our environment in Haiti."(1) Haitian social movements have been vocal in their opposition to agribusiness imports of seeds and food, which undermines local production with local seed stocks. They have expressed special concern about the import of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
For now, without a law regulating the use of GMOs in Haiti, the Ministry of Agriculture rejected Monsanto's offer of Roundup Ready GMOs seeds. In an email exchange, a Monsanto representative assured the Ministry of Agriculture that the seeds being donated are not GMOs.
Elizabeth Vancil, Monsanto's director of development initiatives, called the news that the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture approved the donation "a fabulous Easter gift" in an April email.(2) Monsanto is known for aggressively pushing seeds, especially GMOs seeds, in both the global North and South, including through highly restrictive technology agreements with farmers who are not always made fully aware of what they are signing. According to interviews by this writer with representatives of Mexican small farmer organizations, they then find themselves forced to buy Monsanto seeds each year, under conditions they find onerous and at costs they sometimes cannot afford.
The hybrid corn seeds Monsanto has donated to Haiti are treated with the fungicide Maxim XO, and the calypso tomato seeds are treated with thiram.(3) Thiram belongs to a highly toxic class of chemicals called ethylene bisdithiocarbamates (EBDCs). Results of tests of EBDCs on mice and rats caused concern to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which then ordered a special review. The EPA determined that EBDC-treated plants are so dangerous to agricultural workers that they must wear special protective clothing when handling them. Pesticides containing thiram must contain a special warning label, the EPA ruled. The EPA also barred marketing of the chemicals for many home garden products, because it assumes that most gardeners do not have adequately protective clothing.(4) Monsanto's passing mention of thiram to Ministry of Agriculture officials in an email contained no explanation of the dangers, nor any offer of special clothing or training for those who will be farming with the toxic seeds.
Haitian social movements' concern is not just about the dangers of the chemicals and the possibility of future GMOs imports. They claim that the future of Haiti depends on local production with local food for local consumption, in what is called food sovereignty. Monsanto's arrival in Haiti, they say, is a further threat to this.
"People in the US need to help us produce, not give us food and seeds. They're ruining our chance to support ourselves," said farmer Jonas Deronzil of a peasant cooperative in the rural region of Verrettes.(5)
Monsanto's history has long drawn ire from environmentalists, health advocates and small farmers, going back to its production of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war. Exposure to Agent Orange has caused cancer in an untold number of US veterans, and the Vietnamese government claims that 400,000 Vietnamese people were killed or disabled by Agent Orange, and 500,000 children were born with birth defects as a result of their exposure.(6)
Monsanto's former motto, "Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible," has been replaced by "Imagine." Its web site home page claims it "help[s] farmers around the world produce more while conserving more. We help farmers grow yield sustainably so they can be successful, produce healthier foods ... while also reducing agriculture's impact on our environment."(7) The corporation's record does not support the claims.
Together with Syngenta, Dupont and Bayer, Monsanto controls more than half of the world's seeds.(8) The company holds almost 650 seed patents, most of them for cotton, corn and soy, and almost 30 percent of the share of all biotech research and development. Monsanto came to own such a vast supply by buying major seed companies to stifle competition, patenting genetic modifications to plant varieties and suing small farmers. Monsanto is also one of the leading manufacturers of GMOs.
As of 2007, Monsanto had filed 112 lawsuits against US farmers for alleged technology contract violations of GMOs patents, involving 372 farmers and 49 small agricultural businesses in 27 different states. From these, Monsanto has won more than $21.5 million in judgments. The multinational appears to investigate 500 farmers a year, in estimates based on Monsanto's own documents and media reports.(9)
"Farmers have been sued after their field was contaminated by pollen or seed from someone else's genetically engineered crop [or] when genetically engineered seed from a previous year's crop has sprouted, or 'volunteered,' in fields planted with non-genetically engineered varieties the following year," said Andrew Kimbrell and Joseph Mendelson of the Center for Food Safety.(10)
In Colombia, Monsanto has received upwards of $25 million from the US government for providing Roundup Ultra in the antidrug fumigation efforts of Plan Colombia. Roundup Ultra is a highly concentrated version of Monsanto's glyphosate herbicide, with additional ingredients to increase its lethality. Colombian communities and human rights organizations have charged that the herbicide has destroyed food crops, water sources and protected areas, and has led to increased incidents of birth defects and cancers.
Vía Campesina, the world's largest confederation of farmers with member organizations in more than 60 countries, has called Monsanto one of the "principal enemies of peasant sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty for all peoples."(11) They claim that as Monsanto and other multinationals control an ever larger share of land and agriculture, they force small farmers out of their land and jobs. They also claim that the agribusiness giants contribute to climate change and other environmental disasters, an outgrowth of industrial agriculture.(12)
The Vía Campesina coalition launched a global campaign against Monsanto last October 16, on International World Food Day, with protests, land occupations and hunger strikes in more than 20 countries. They carried out a second global day of action against Monsanto on April 17 of this year, in honor of Earth Day.
Nongovernmental organizations in the US are challenging Monsanto's practices, too. The Organic Consumers Association has spearheaded the campaign "Millions Against Monsanto," calling on the company to stop intimidating small family farmers, stop marketing untested and unlabeled genetically engineered foods to consumers and stop using billions of dollars of US taypayers' money to subsidize GMOs crops.(13)
The Center for Food Safety has led a four-year legal challenge to Monsanto that has just made it to the US Supreme Court. After successful litigation against Monsanto and the US Department of Agriculture for illegal promotion of Roundup Ready Alfalfa, the court heard the Center for Food Safety's case on April 27. A decision on this first-ever Supreme Court case about GMOs is now pending.(14)
"Fighting hybrid and GMO seeds is critical to save our diversity and our agriculture," Jean-Baptiste said in an interview in February. "We have the potential to make our lands produce enough to feed the whole population and even to export certain products. The policy we need for this to happen is food sovereignty, where the county has a right to define it own agricultural policies, to grow first for the family and then for local market, to grow healthy food in a way which respects the environment and Mother Earth."
Many thanks to Moira Birss for her assistance with research and writing.
1. Group email from Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, May 14, 2010.
2. Email from Elizabeth Vancil to Emmanuel Prophete, director of seeds at the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture, and others; released by the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture, date unavailable.
3. Ibid.
4. Extension Toxicology Network, Pesticide Information Project of the Cooperative Extension Offices of Cornell University, Michigan State University, Oregon State University and University of California at Davis.
5. Jonas Deronzil's comments are from an interview in April. He was not specifically discussing Monsanto.
6. "MSNBC," January 23, 2004. "Study Finds Link Between Agent Orange, Cancer." The Globe and Mail, June 12, 2008. "Last Ghost of the Vietnam War."
7. www.monsanto.com
8. La Vía Campesina, "La Vía Campesina carries out Global Day of Action against Monsanto," October 16, 2009.
9. Center for Food Safety, "Monsanto vs. US Farmers," November 2007.
10. Andrew Kimbrell and Joseph Mendelson, Center for Food Safety, "Monsanto vs. US Farmers," 2005.
11. La Vía Campesina, October 16, 2009, Op. Cit.
12. La Vía Campesina, "La Vía Campesina Call to Action 17 April 2010 - Join the International Day of Peasant Struggle," February 23, 2010.
13. Organic Consumers Association, "Taxpayers Forced to Fund Monsanto's Poisoning of Third World," Finland, Minnesota.
14. Center for Food Security, "Update: CFS Fighting Monsanto in the Supreme Court," May 11, 2010.
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Comments
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Monsato is Dracula--all
Tue, 05/18/2010 - 19:33 β Giovanna Lepore (not verified)Monsato is Dracula--all power to the Hatian resisters! All out on June 4!
Don't just burn Monsanto
Tue, 05/18/2010 - 20:39 β Anonymous (not verified)Don't just burn Monsanto seeds, burn Monsanto.
Monsanto is evil
Tue, 05/18/2010 - 22:14 β Anonymous (not verified)Monsanto is evil personified. It means to gain complete control of the food production of the entire world. This entity needs to be done away with. The seeds that it sells are non-sprouting or non-degenerative. That means that all Monsanto seeds would have to be purchased each time for replanting..and that the Price of the seeds could be continually raised so that soon no small farmer would be able to afford to buy the seeds. He would then lose his land and way of life. This is Evil..planned to control the world through starvation.
When are American farmers
Tue, 05/18/2010 - 22:42 β Gus W (not verified)When are American farmers going to burn Monsanto seeds?
A study just out shows a link between pesticide and ADHD - why are Americans feeding this to our kids? Don't be hypnotized by flavor, price or convenience - if pesticide kills bugs, it's not great for your internal organs either.
But when the pesticide is put into the food genetically, we have no idea what will happen, but we are using our kids as guniea pigs while other countries test, ban and label GMO products.
as i remember i believe it's
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 00:56 β hourglass (not verified)as i remember i believe it's even worse ... the seeds from gmo crops can't be planted, they die ... you have to buy each planting from lord monsanto ... another point is that the pollen from gmo crops crosses with non-gmo and renders many of these sterile and unrecoverable ... even if not useless seed-stock, monsanto can claim ownership of your crop or charge you with theft, if its patented dna strings can be found in tests.
Luddites live!
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 01:29 β Anonymous (not verified)Luddites live!
We certainly need the EPA
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 01:48 β rylly (not verified)We certainly need the EPA and FDA to get up to speed and start with the REGULATING and enforcement.
The War on Drugs should be re-directed to a War on Chemicals that are killing our earth, sky and water.
There are so many completely un-regulated chemicals that are allowed to be sold that haven't even been tested! What the hell is going on?
Monsanto can't seem to keep it's nose clean, doesn't seem to care one whit, flushes the poor farmers off their lands and forces them to sneak illegally into the US and get abused by racists and law enforcement.
These awful multi-nationals are all TOO BIG, break them up. Regulate them. Close them down.
The biggest problem with the
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 02:07 β Midwest Tom (not verified)The biggest problem with the whole world switching to only organic farming and using no hybrid seed, is who will determine which 20% to 25% of the worlds population will have to starve to death. Corn production will revert to 75 bushels per acre, not the present 225+ per acre.
Local, vigorous,
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 03:12 β Josh K (not verified)Local, vigorous, biointensive, farm and food networks. have the capacity to meet and exceed nutritional requirements, for people around the world. Midwest Tom's assumption presupposes current eating habits are continued. But more nutritionally dense organics would make up a majority of that 25%. The rest would be diversified eating patterns and a reduction in wasteful eating/producing.
In India also mosanto in a
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 03:35 β uday prakash (not verified)In India also mosanto in a way, responsible for the suicides of the poor farmers in big number. In the last 10 years more than 150,000 farmers have committed suicides. Vandana Shiva and few others are battling against this perpetrator of the Agent Orange but the government, under the controls of corporates, seems unconcerned. In fact, state is involved in dismantling of the food sovereignty of India's 72% agrarian population.
India produces excess food but people starve because it's the worst and corrupt 'distribution system' which is at fault, not the 'production'. High yield is more a market-corporate slogan. It doesn't address problem of hunger at all. In fact, it has nothing to do with it.
I've added Monsanto to my
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 06:34 β borisjimbo (not verified)I've added Monsanto to my pantheon of evil corporations, e.g. NewsCorp, Microsoft, Koch Industries, Massey Energy, Blackwater, KBR, Halliburton, Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, all looking only at the next quarter and not the next generation.
Practically in the middle of
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 10:31 β Anonymous (not verified)Practically in the middle of this article is probably the most fearsome consequence of allowing Monsanto to "donate" these GMO seeds to Haitians. Footnote #9 is especially important because embedded in its legal framework is a reactivation of the Tonton Macoutes searching the farms and gardens of our devastated neighbors for seeds and plants that "violate" the agreement to plant only annually purchased Monsanto seeds.
I applaud the knowledgeable Haitians for burning the Trojan Horse gift of Monsanto seeds. I hope all Haitians can be informed of the corporation's practices and so reject the proffered food.
They need to sing with Bob Marley: Not one of my seed,
Shall sit in the sidewalk
And beg bread.....
We neither beg nor will we bow
Neither can be bought or sold.
GM seeds & plants are prob
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 12:04 β Anonarcmous (not verified)GM seeds & plants are prob cause of the bees dying b/c of the pesticides contained w/in.By definition, these are poisonous to humans as well.This is one of the reasons tobacco is detrimental to human health!!! This is what makes them effective. This is no gift but a trap to perpetual enslavement to Monsanto&al.
Why grow corn you can not
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 13:13 β Anonymous (not verified)Why grow corn you can not eat.
Monsanto sucks.
You know it is bad if can't even give it away.
Burn those seeds!!
I suspect the Haitian
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 13:16 β Anonymous (not verified)I suspect the Haitian fellow's correct name is Jean-Baptiste Chavannes...
Why put up with pesticides?
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 14:47 β Realist (not verified)Why put up with pesticides? Better off starving. The sad thing is many here don't even sense the irony in what I just said. Come on, people. The first issue is feeding people. What's next? Refusal to have sanitized hands in Haitian hospitals unless the soap is organic?
To Realist. So if the first
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 15:17 β Powerpuff (not verified)To Realist. So if the first issue is feeding people, does that justify poisoning them and their livestock? Good grief!
Thumbs up to Haitian farmers. Now we should all do the same.
Monsanto isn't sending them
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 16:29 β Peter (not verified)Monsanto isn't sending them GMO seed. Please read the following article:
http://www.monsantoblog.com/2010/05/13/monsanto-donates-seed-to-haiti/
It is most encouraging to
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 16:56 β Anonymous (not verified)It is most encouraging to see that the average person is beginning to wake up and take notice of what we have been allowing our government to do to the entire world...all in the lying name of 'for our own good'. Where have I heard those same words spoken ? Oh, Now I remember. " We must fight them over there so we won't have to fight them over here." It is obvious now that 'our' glorious Leaders lied while cutting our throats. Like, " Smile..you are on Candid Camera." Remember ? Well, many of us still do remember when America truly meant 'Land of Opportunity and Freedom' to most of the world...but not any longer. This has become the most hypocritical nation on earth. We preach one thing and Do the opposite.
Are we not able to grasp the obvious truth...that we are all on this earth Together...and we will all suffer the same fate, together, if we do not begin to grasp this Truth. " Do unto others as ye would have others do unto you." Just as true now as it was when Our Lord spoke them over two thousand years ago.
Great article, keep 'em
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 17:32 β Kym (not verified)Great article, keep 'em coming about Monsanto. Public awareness in the USA clearly isn't as high as it is in Haiti. Monsanto is driven by greed that ranks in the very upper echelons of greediness. They are a worldwide threat.
Peter, It doesn't matter
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 18:34 β Mike Strong (not verified)Peter,
It doesn't matter what kind of seed Monsanto is sending in this batch. Monsanto has poisoned its own reputation well and these people know someone to never trust again. Frankly, Monsanto doesn't deserve to get that trust or to continue in its business.
Monsanto really cannot be trusted. The very fact that they have prosecuted farmers whose crops have become contaminated by GM crops planted in the area is enough to get them banned forever. You will notice that these prosecutions are for nearby farmers, not far away farmers.
So either Monsanto is a cynical evil predator or full of damn stupid fools who seem not to know how plants in the wild propagate. If the former, burn Monsanto at the stake. If the latter, never let them handle technology again, they are too dangerously ignorant and wish to remain so.
Proper Nouns (i.e. Names)
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 18:51 β Mike Strong (not verified)Proper Nouns (i.e. Names) make their own rules about spelling and arrangement. This man's name is indeed: Chavannes Jean-Baptiste (b. 1947), not the other way around (as in the revolutionary leader, 1748-1791).
Their website ( http://www.mpphaiti.org )
Lists him this way: "Because of MPP accomplishments, its founder and executive director, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, has received various awards and honors. These include:" (from: http://www.mpphaiti.org/awards/10.html)
Though apparently not everyone uses it in this arrangement. The WikiPedia tiny-mention page seems to know better??
wow what a wrong article
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 19:24 β Anonymous (not verified)wow what a wrong article full of lies and double-talk to sound like like your information is correct. you are truly biasisted. keep writing for the ignorant masses
Luddites live, and expect to
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 19:31 β Anonymous (not verified)Luddites live, and expect to prosper.
The pesticide is in the
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 19:51 β Anonymous (not verified)The pesticide is in the genetic information therefore in the pollen. Therefore killing pollinators like bees and butterflys. Therefore ultimately no pollinators no food. They are a hideous greedy sneeky cheesy corporation. I work against them every chance I get.
Sigh... This issue isn't as
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 19:58 β Nathan (not verified)Sigh...
This issue isn't as easy as the article paints it. Like it or not, GMOs have made it possible to feed more people in the world. At what cost is another story and I fully concede that I am largely ignorant of the extent of those costs.
Nevertheless, yields would not approach what they are today without the help of seed technology. I'm not saying it's right, but I think it's dangerous to write off all seed technology as evil. In many ways these technologies simply speed up the process of Gregor Mendel's selective breeding. As for injecting pesticides and herbicides, I agree that in the long run it's more than likely harmful.
In the specific case of Haiti, I fully agree that food sovereignty must be RE-gained. Haiti was quite capably feeding itself and producing surpluses before they were forced by the U.S. to lower their tariffs to the lowest levels in the region. It's like the old proverb: give a man a fish, or teach a man to fish.
My two cents.
The ignorant masses..hmmm.
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 21:10 β Doug (not verified)The ignorant masses..hmmm. which would you call ignorant? It is obvious that Monsanto is immoral or shall we say totally oblivious to right and wrong. As pointed out before that is pretty common knowledge for anyone out there who cares at all to find out. Sorry.. do not buy the ole socialist communist lefty righty thing type of rebuttal for this stuff. The world is slowly waking up to the bull crap being done to the environment, and what I mean by the environment is the world we live in, all of it. I realize that plenty of folks for example spray their place with Roundup or whatever, lacing the ground with basically a toxic stew which kills just about anything in its path. Why give a darn? Just nuke it right? Well the ground has a lot of little critters that in fact make the ground fertile for the big stuff. The ground becomes dead over time and eventually nothing really grows very well at all. You can find out about this easily enough, and frankly it is common sense.Ignorance is ignoring the evidence right in front of you. And the evidence I see is that Monsanto has proven to be very ignorant indeed and quite destructive to the shared health of this world. If you do not see this then you are not looking or do not care to look. It is right in front of you and the truth has started to come to light no matter what forces are aligned against it.
Imagine... serious
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 21:30 β Anonymous (not verified)Imagine...
serious imagination monsanto, to believe we would fall for your superficial marketing campaign, hiding behind false words and imagery. Monsanto, you are a corporation who lacks insight, ingenuity, and integrity and obviously you refuse to be accountable for your exploitation and destructive tendencies.
I will Imagine your collapse monsanto.
I will Imagine...
the truth is that organic
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 21:55 β Anonymous (not verified)the truth is that organic farming is no less productive than using "typical" farming methods, its just they are more labor intensive and use less machinery. monoculture agriculture is not the answer and that is what people think of when they think of farming. farming is about taking care of the land that provides for you. How are you doing your part when we are relying on industrialized farms to produce all are food for us. the answer is in a shift towards smaller farms providing for the local communities reducing the use of fossil fuels and also reducing the cost of food, because of the loss in need of monster equipment and petroleum based fertilizers.
I would encourage every
Wed, 05/19/2010 - 22:47 β Natureboy (not verified)I would encourage every reader of this forum to watch carefully the decision(s) of our Supreme Court Justices in their ruling on this important EPA and Human Rights issue. Their ruling will reflect our Government's stand on this matter, but more importantly, their judgment will reflect either wisdom and concern for farmers everywhere, or their allegiance to big Corporate America and their Lobbyist.
I'm wondering if someone
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 02:34 β Anonymous (not verified)I'm wondering if someone from The Center for Food Safety can confirm that the Obama Administration's Solicitor General Elena Kagan (recently nominated to the Supreme Court by Pres. Obama) wrote a brief to the Supreme Court in the current GMO alfalfa case against Monsanto, urging the Supreme Court to basically reverse the lower court's ruling against Monsanto. If this is true, it seems like environmental groups ought to collaborate quickly in bringing this matter to the attention of the media and the public and shine the light on our government's support of a giant corporation like Monsanto over the public good.
I would just like to have a
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 04:49 β Tristan (not verified)I would just like to have a short word about GMOs. Monsanto is evil. They do terrible things, like blackmailing farmers into buying their seeds every year. This does not make all GMOs evil. Not all genetically modified plants are made non-regenerative. Not all genetically modified plants have pesticide resistance genes. Genetically modified crops have great potential for feeding the rapidly growing world population, but NOT the way Monsanto envisions it. GMOs should not be patented and tested thoroughly before released into the environment. If we erect a sensible rule and regulation system, GMOs have great potential. Don't just bash them for not being 'natural'. None of the crops we eat on a daily basis are 'natural'. They have been bred over the course centuries to have the characteristics the farmers want. Boycott Monsanto, but don't just boycott GMOs out of principle.
I do not get why so many
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 14:15 β Anonymous (not verified)I do not get why so many people are still against GMO's. Greenpeace and other environmental organizations still speaking against GMO's is a sin. GMO has caused reduction in pesticide and herbicide use and also reduced tillage allwoing 8 billion kilograms of carbon storage in soil and reducing 1 billion kilgorams of carbon emission from fuel consumption of machines spreading pesticides. GMO's also fight against diseases and protect all of hawaii's papaya's against hpa. Roundup ready soybeans and crops have made it so the only herbicide that needs to be used is glyphosate which compared to many other herbicides is much less toxic. Biodiversity of crops is not being affected because these genes are being introduced into all strains crops. also gmo must pass stringent regulatory commitees and this process alone normally takes over 10 years and over a hundred million dollars so they are safe to consume. GMO have done great things for the world and need to stop being slammed.
Monsato maybe evil for threatening to monopolize all agricultural activities but dont diss on GMO's.
Many have written here that
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 14:16 β Anonymous (not verified)Many have written here that GMO crops are allowing the world to be fed. Yes, that may be true, but fed with what? Corn, in the US has been reduced to only one variety where there used to be a hundred varieties. This one GMO corn variety was conceived to grow the stocks more closely together than "natural" corn would grow allowing more bushels per acre. The down side is that this one variety of corn has no nutritional value. It has been reduced to starch and sugar. Feeding it to the US population and the rest of the world would be like feeding them cardboard. In third world countries where farmers attempt to use their own harvested corn and other seeds, Monsanto and other "seed" companies have used the World Health Organization to force these farmers to accept and plant GMO corn and other seeds. If they don't, the WHO will not lend that country the money it needs to buy food and other products necessary for existence. The WHO is a gun to the head of the third world forcing the planting and propagation of GMO products and allows law suits by Monsanto against poor farmers if they are caught using their own seeds EVER again because they can't afford Monsanto seeds.
Death to Monsanto.
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 17:27 β Anonymous (not verified)Death to Monsanto.
My most sincere apologies to
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 18:34 β Anonymous (not verified)My most sincere apologies to the World Health Organization. I misspoke when I accused them of being the gun to the head of the third world. I meant the World Bank. Again, I'm sorry if I cast a bad light on the World Health Organization.
A superb book on how US
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 19:01 β Anonymous (not verified)A superb book on how US policy perpetuates global hunger...and what can be done is Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty by two veteran Wall Street Journal reporters, Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman (2009)
Let's clear up some
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 19:36 β Charles (not verified)Let's clear up some misconceptions.
Yields from GMO crops currently in use are often actually 5% to 10% less than non-GMO. Why use them? They are often less labor intensive and amenable to industrial agriculture.
Over 70% of corn and soybean crop in the U.S. goes to feed animals not people. A large part of the rest of it goes to make products like oil and high-fructose corn syrup. This is all to feed our high-fat, high-cholesterol, junk-food centered diet. If there is anything close to a food shortage, it is because we aren't producing food, we're producing junk.
Misconceptions
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 19:37 β Charles (not verified)Misconceptions Continued:
GMO foods are NOT subject to stringent testing in the U.S. The company that produces the seed sends information to the Feds stating that they believe their GMO crops are safe. The Feds send a letter back stating that the company believes the GMO crops are safe, and they are in business. It is a total sham.
The way that GMOs are created raises a long list of things that can possibly go wrong to create a dangerous "food". Most of the time, none of these problems are tested for. In Brittain, a sample GMO crop was subjected to simple tests that found that it was highly toxic. The scary thing is that if this crop had just gone through the standard testing and regulatory review that is used in the U.S. and Europe, the crop would have passed with flying colors. This set off a media storm in Europe and as a result, consumers in Europe won't eat GMO foods and so most food suppliers won't carry them.
The biotech industry, supported by the U.S. government, likes to pretend that the European attitude is "anti-science", when it is actually the biotech industry that is anti-science. Unfortunately science often gets in the way of money. What people don't know can't hurt your bottom line.
More Misconceptions: Use of
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 19:43 β Charles (not verified)More Misconceptions:
Use of Round-up Ready products often leads to the use of MORE herbicides, not less, because they can. They can apply it at any time and it won't hurt the crop.
Crops that have BT genes in them become full-time pesticide factories. Instead of having a pesticide that is only applied at a particular time when needed, that will wash off with the rain, these products produce the pesticide all the time in every cell, including the parts that will be eaten or used for other products (such as cotton). This poisons the soil and the workers that must work in the fields.
For more information, please read the books "Seeds of Deception" and possibly "Genetic Roulette" by Jeffrey Smith. Seeds of Deception is a really easy book to read. We can change this in the U.S., but we have to be informed and involved to do it.
The post above has some
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 21:27 β Kathleen Manning (not verified)The post above has some inaccurate information regarding Monsanto's seed donation, including information that Thiram belonged to the ethylene bisdithiocarbamates (EBDCs) class of chemicals. This is incorrect. The current classification is (dimethyl dithiocarbamate) DMDC. Source: Oregon State University, 1996.
Itβs disappointing to see people encouraging Haitian farmers to βburn Monsanto seeds,β especially when the ones hurt by that action will be Haitian farmers and the Haitian peopleβnot those of us watching on the sidelines.
For more information on Monsanto's seed donation and to answer many of the questions asked, you can see the post on the Monsanto blog here: http://www.monsantoblog.com/2010/05/20/five-answers-monsanto-haiti/
Thank you,
Kathleen Manning
Monsanto Company
"The biggest problem"to
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 22:48 β George Green (not verified)"The biggest problem"to -midwest tom-They will starve today or they will starve further on down the road Tom...All this does is put the starvation off until a later time while insuring that eventually when we have depleted all the earth's resources and continue to explode our populations on the false promise of more and more food production -we will hit the wall and EVERYONE will starve. There are limits and checks and balances and we have to look farther down the road to understand how what we do today will affect future generations. Mono cultures allow us in the short term to over produce and hot wire Nature only until the limit is reached-which it always is-and then the whole thing comes tumbling down. It is true that we may be able to save some individuals with this type of agriculture now but in the long run we lose everything and destroy a sustainable future insuring the coming of a day when there is not enough for anyone. There are certainly more people facing starvation today because of political and social failures than because of a lack of monoculture and GMOs...
& to Ms Manning above, do you think that maybe cancer cells just don't actually know that they are cancer cells?
This is wonderful! People
Thu, 05/20/2010 - 22:52 β Anonymous (not verified)This is wonderful! People standing up for their right to survive!!! How inspiring! If only America could be this intelligent, they would drive these monsters from what's left of the earth!
Let's not forget--these are the bastards that SUE people for "planting" "their" seeds. They OWN every plant, and don't you forget it!!
How can we genuinely help these people? How can we get them the seeds they need to rebuild their lives?
Midwest Tom get your facts
Fri, 05/21/2010 - 00:23 β Anonymous (not verified)Midwest Tom get your facts straight. OH State, MN State, KS State, Cornell, Rutgers, etc. report that organic corn has a HIGHER yield than GM. Plus it sells for more dinero.
Further, Monsanto isn't peddling hybrid, it's peddling genetically modified (GM)--big difference, dude!!! Do some reading--people need facts not folk tales.
I can just picture some
Fri, 05/21/2010 - 13:04 β Sur (not verified)I can just picture some corrupt official in Haiti getting hold of the seeds, re-packaging them, and selling them as conventional...
Land of Opportunity and
Fri, 05/21/2010 - 17:57 β Anonymous (not verified)Land of Opportunity and Freedom for the great multinationals aka Monsanto.
Haitian farmers thank you for showing the way!
An interesting French
Sat, 05/22/2010 - 02:53 β Anonymous (not verified)An interesting French documentary, "The World According to Monsanto" can be seen for free online. Search for it. Of intersting note is how FDA executive level employees have previously worked for Monsanto. Can you say conflict of interest? Not onlyis Monsanto suing small seedsman but also they are set to roundup..haha! the seed cleaning machines around the country. How does that .59 cent jar of pickles taste now?
It's more or less irrelevant
Sat, 05/22/2010 - 13:48 β Jean-Luc (not verified)It's more or less irrelevant whether or not Monsanto donates genetically engineered seeds, seeds tainted with fungicides, seeds from organic sources, or no seeds at all. Haitian agriculture has never been productive enough to meet more than a tiny fraction of the nutritional needs of the Haitian population, despite the attempts of numerous foreign NGOs in recent decades to introduce the practices of industrial agriculture to Haiti.
Haiti has neither an infrastructure nor a workforce with the skills necessary to sustain wide-scale farming. In addition, the Haitians have massively degraded the quality of their formerly rich volcanic soils over the past 60 years by engaging in unrestricted deforestation.
Haiti will continue to subsist on the largesse of America and other donor nations. Unfortunately, countries like Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, etc. are not capable of creating the conditions necessary for agricultural production in the same manner as agriculture is practiced in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Haitians can burn seeds, burn food, or burn their homes - this may draw attention to the plight of the Haitians and encourage more donations from wealthy countries. Ultimately, Haiti's fate will continue to be determined by the generosity of more advanced nations.
It's long past due that
Sat, 05/22/2010 - 16:30 β macmarine (not verified)It's long past due that farmers worldwide arm themselves and start to shoot those Mon$anto mofos when they show up on their farms.
Ceterum censeo Mon$anto esse delendam!
Ms. Manning, you may not be
Sun, 05/23/2010 - 20:06 β Uppity Woman (not verified)Ms. Manning, you may not be aware of this, but God recently decided to go ahead and create hell, just so she could have some place appropriate to send the folks who work for Monsanto. Bon Voyage!
As they said in the Vietnam
Mon, 05/24/2010 - 19:14 β Frances in California (not verified)As they said in the Vietnam era: Let the fragging begin.
In need of a paradigm shift.
Tue, 05/25/2010 - 03:47 β Mukunda das (not verified)In need of a paradigm shift. Local organic production for local consumption. Decentralize. Grow your own and a bit more to barter with another local for what you don't produce yourself. That's the way we can regain our power over our life and the food we eat. And that is available to us right now! Start now, stop reading this or writing a reply and make a plan to start a small garden or enlarge the one you got. Team up with someone like-minded and go...
Monsanto's CEO is a member
Fri, 05/28/2010 - 21:20 β Arlene Johnson (not verified)Monsanto's CEO is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, that organization in NYC that seeks to destroy the United States. Now, does it all make sense everyone?. BRAVO Haiti for burning the seeds. No GM seeds are beneficial. That's why France bans them as great sacrifice to France because the USA has sanctions on France for this reason.
To read what I have published on Monsanto, log onto http://www.truedemocracy.net , then click on Magazine, and click on the 15th edition. The lead-off article is what Monsanto did to Percy Schmeiser in Canada. His fields are runined because of Monsanto.
Great news. Bring the Mafia
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 05:52 β Anonymous (not verified)Great news. Bring the Mafia down!
There seems to be a lot of
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 18:58 β Anastasia Bodnar (not verified)There seems to be a lot of misinformation about the donation - particularly when it comes to what hybrids are and why the seeds are treated with fungicide. I've written about both here: http://www.biofortified.org/2010/06/hybrids-in-haiti/
No, I don't work for Monsanto. I'm just a PhD student in Genetics and Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State who's hoping to help people understand the science behind what they eat.
A simple test: We live in an
Wed, 06/16/2010 - 03:23 β Gib (not verified)A simple test: We live in an agricultural area and we used to have a lot of bugs around here. If the bugs, which are part of an eons old evolutionary balance, are eliminated, then things that eat bugs are impacted. As we short circuit the cycle, we impact the whole environment and our gain is a sham. In years past, as we drove, our car windshields used to get covered with bug goo - but they are clean most of the time now. No bugs. If yours are clean, it's just short term gain. Better ask why.
If you know why, lend Haiti your support.
We Haitian have 2 sentences
Wed, 06/16/2010 - 17:16 β Dawid (not verified)We Haitian have 2 sentences for Monsanto:
You're not welcomed here!
Thanks, but no thanks!
Wow, OK dude now thats what
Thu, 06/17/2010 - 18:28 β Jason Woods (not verified)Wow, OK dude now thats what I am talking about. Amazing.
Lou
www.feds-logging.at.tc
monsanto sucks
Thu, 06/17/2010 - 20:47 β Anonymous (not verified)monsanto sucks
this technology is saving
Thu, 06/17/2010 - 20:48 β Anonymous (not verified)this technology is saving lives. do the research
They coat those seeds to
Sat, 07/24/2010 - 16:38 β Levi coon (not verified)They coat those seeds to keep insects, parasites, and vermin from eating them. Seems like it seems to be working in this case.
I will never donate a penny
Mon, 07/26/2010 - 04:54 β Gnigs R Skum (not verified)I will never donate a penny to any of those useless parasitical lowlifes in Haiti, It isn't even a country, it is more like a zoo where the monkeys run it
I can't believe that these
Wed, 07/28/2010 - 21:20 β NigsRStupid (not verified)I can't believe that these lowlife scum are complaining about getting free seeds. The only reason they're bitching is because they have to actually plant the seeds themselves, then wait a few months for them to grow before they can eat them. These stupid africoons would much rather the immediate gratification of eating them, not waiting and harvesting.