Posted By: ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION

Ten Ways Monsanto and Big Ag Are Trying to Kill You – And the Planet

Energy-intensive industrial farming practices that rely on toxic chemicals and genetically engineered crops are not just undermining public health, they’re destroying the planet.

Here’s how:

#1 Generating Massive Greenhouse Gas Pollution (CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide) and Global Warming, While Promoting False Solutions Such as Industrial Biofuels, So-Called Drought-Resistant Crops, and Genetically Engineered Trees

#2 Polluting the Environment and the Soil-Food Web with Pesticides, Chemical Fertilizers, and Persistent Toxins, Including Dioxin

#3 Draining and Polluting Wetlands and Aquifers, Turning Farmland into Desert

#4 Poisoning Wells and Municipal Drinking Water, Lakes, and Rivers

#5 Chopping Down the Rainforests for Monoculture GMO Crops, Biofuels and Cattle Grazing

#6 Increasing the Cost of Food, While Reducing Nutrition and Biodiversity

#7 Spawning Pesticide-Resistant Superbugs and Weeds, and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

#8 Generating New and More Virulent Plant, Animal and Human Diseases

#9 Utilizing Wasteful Fossil Fuel-Intensive Practices and Encouraging the Expansion of Natural Gas Fracking and Tar Sands Extraction (Which Destroy Forests, Aquifers, and Farmland)

#10 Stealing Money From the 99% to Give Huge Subsidies to the 1% Wealthiest, Most Chemical and Energy-Intensive Farms and Food Producers

It’s not enough to stop eating genetically engineered food. If we want a liveable planet we’ve got to boycott all factory farmed food and make the Great Transition from energy and chemical-intensive agriculture to a relocalized and organic system of food and farming. The World According to Monsanto is a recipe for disaster. Monsanto and Big Ag contaminate every link in the food chain, threatening the very foundation of life: living nutrient-rich soil, clean water, resilient crops, healthy animals, stable climates, and diverse food sources. The good news is that agro-ecological and organic methods can reverse this threat and sustain food production for future generations, but we don’t have much time to turn things around.

Take Action

Learn more:

“What About the State of Our Planet, Mr. President?” By Will Allen and Ronnie Cummins

The Farm Bill: Subsidizing Pollution, Junk Food, and the Richest 1%

Support the OCA and the OCF

In 2012, whether we’re talking about getting antibiotics out of animal feed or labeling GMOs, we’re fighting harder than ever. With the 2012 California Ballot Initiative, and GMO labeling legislation gaining momentum in Vermont, Washington, Connecticut, Hawaii and other states, we have a real chance to hit Monsanto with the skull and crossbones they fear so much – mandatory labels on genetically engineered food. We also plan to step up our efforts to strengthen organic standards and significantly expand the market for organic food and products, especially those produced locally and regionally.

Please be as generous as you can during our January and February fundraising drive.

Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible)

Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our efforts in California)

Little Bytes: Top Stories of the Week

Petition Tells Obama: ‘Cease FDA Ties to Monsanto’

Monsanto Named the “Worst Company of 2011″

Why Does Agriculture Keep Getting a Climate Pass?

Bee Colony Collapse Disorder May Affect Our Food Supply

Washington Wheat Farmers Throw Support Behind Required Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods

Monsanto genetically engineered corn approved for sale in U.S.

By Lynn Herrmann

Washington – Monsanto has been given the go-ahead to sell its genetically engineered, drought-resistant corn after the Obama administration quietly approved the variety, with the announcement being made during December’s Christmas break.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the controversial product after Monsanto submitted a petition for its approval in 2009. Monsanto maintains 40 percent of North American crop losses occur as a result of sub-optimal moisture.
In a news release, Monsanto states the GE corn, MON 87460, carries the drought-tolerant trait to help maintain yield potential during drought stress.

“Our drought system is designed to help farmers mitigate the risk of yield loss when experiencing drought stress, primarily in areas of annual drought stress,” said Hobart Beeghly, Monsanto’s U.S. product management lead, in the company statement. “This spring farmers in the Western Great Plains will have an opportunity to see how the system performs on their farm through on-farm trials.”

corn and progeny derived from it are unlikely to pose plant pest risks and is no longer to be considered regulated article under APHIS’ Biotechnology Regulations.

would have no significant impacts, individually or collectively, on the quality of the human environment and will have no effect on federally listed threatened or endangered species, species proposed for listing, or their designated or proposed critical habitats.

 The Cornucopia Institute notes the USDA received almost 45,000 public comments opposed to MON 87460, with only 23 comments in favor.

 Also in the pipeline for genetically modified food is a corn by Dow which is being engineered to be more resistant to 2,4-D, a poisonous herbicide most famous for its being a primary ingredient in Agent Orange, prolifically used during the Vietnam War for defoliating forests and croplands.

USDA Out-of-Control!

USDA Madness #1: Government Poised to Approve Agent Orange Corn

Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready genetically engineered crops (soy, corn, cotton, sugarbeets and canola) are a failure, responsible for new breeds of super-weeds, millions of gallons of toxic pesticides sprayed on farm crops, and the propagation of a deadly new micro-monster that attacks plants, animals, and humans alike. Monsanto’s Roundup, even in the wake of this trail of destruction, is still the most widely used herbicide on the planet.

Now, rather than moving away from chemical and energy-intensive GMO crops and deadly pesticides, the USDA is preparing to escalate, letting chemical/biotech companies force a new wave of genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant crops, mutants that can survive being sprayed with the infamous herbicide 2,4-D, an Agent Orange ingredient with documented, uncontested major health problems that include cancer, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity, and immunosuppression..

We have until February 27, 2012 to try to convince the USDA not to approve Dow Chemical’s new 2,4-D-tolerant corn.

Take Action!

USDA Madness #2: USDA Approves Monsanto’s Bogus “Drought-Tolerant” GMO Corn

Genetic diversity and organic soil management – not genetic engineering – is the key to growing crops in the current era of global warming. Only traditional cross-breeding methods, coupled with ecological or organic farm practices that promote soil health, have proven capable of producing normal crop yields under drought or near-drought conditions.

The USDA’s review of Monsanto’s own data shows that years of investment into so-called “drought-resistant” biotech crops have been nothing more than a risky and very expensive failure.

Monsanto and the USDA have both admitted that MON 87460, the so-called “drought-tolerant” GMO corn, will fare only modestly better than current conventional varieties under low-and moderate-level drought conditions. Of course, corn grown organically not only retains significant more moisture in the soil than GMO or chemically-raised crops, but eliminates completely the use of toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

Data from U.S. researchers indicates that conventional breeding is producing drought tolerance two to three times faster than genetic engineering.

The danger is, now that MON 87460 has been fully deregulated, it will inevitably contaminate truly drought-tolerant varieties of organic and conventional corn, destroying the rich genetic diversity that the world’s farmers have cultivated in the planet’s infinitely varied micro-climates.

The USDA decision is final. All we can do now is complain to Congress and President Obama – who promised during the 2008 campaign that he would respect consumers’ right to know and label GMOs! Of course, just like the other new GMOs approved by Obama’s USDA (alfalfa, sugar beets, etc.), MON 87460 was approved without a labeling requirement.

Take Action!

USDA Madness #3: Genetically Engineered Nutraceuticals in Organic Baby Food

Beginning when Bush was president, and continuing now in the Obama Administration, the USDA National Organic Program has allowed biotech giant DSM, owner of Martek Biosciences, to market genetically engineered nutraceuticals DHA and ARA to organic food companies, including infant formula and baby cereal manufacturers.

So far, organic food companies using GMO DHA and ARA have received complaints from 6,710 OCA members.

Thanks to everyone who took action! If you did, you probably received a letter back from Happy Baby, which makes Happy Bellies cereal with DHA, disputing our GMO claim.

We’ve updated our action alert with their letter and our reply.

Learn More and Take Action!

Support the OCA and the OCF

Thank you for supporting our work in 2011!

You’ve made it possible to continue the transition to an organic future by safeguarding organic standards and fighting back against the biotech bullies and their indentured politicians, supporting progressive legislation, educating the public, and organizing nationwide protests.    In 2012, we plan to fight even harder. With the 2012 California ballot initiative, and GMO labeling legislation gaining momentum in Vermont, Washington, Connecticut and other states, we have a real chance to hit Monsanto with the skull and crossbones they fear so much – mandatory labels on genetically engineered food. We also plan to step up our efforts to strengthen organic standards and significantly expand the market for organic food and products, especially those produced locally and regionally.

Please be as generous as you can this post-holiday season.

Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible)

Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our efforts in California)

Monsanto’s Micro-Monster Could Kill Us All
Tell Sec. Vilsack to Heed Dr. Huber’s Warning!

Monsanto has unleashed a micro-monster that could kill us all.

 

That’s according to Dr. Don Huber, an agricultural scientist and expert in microbial ecology, who’s convinced that Monsanto’s genetically engineered “RoundUp Ready” crops are responsible for a new micro-monster that’s causing an outbreak of new plant, animal and human diseases.