Monsanto: The evil corp. Has anyone been personally affected by them?

[mikeofaustin]

I recently saw a video of how Monsanto is the root of all evil (so to speak). They have a patent on life, which in itself, is a president in our day and age.
I thinks its absolutely cruel of them to take organic farmers to court over the fact that their own seed has migrated into their own seed because of pollen that is blown into the farmers fields. i think there should be a super lawyer that takes these people to court, on the premise of, 'Monsanto knowingly lets there seeds and pollen contaminate other organic fields, and then sues these farmers for profit'.

Why are these people still allowed to exist? They have caused world wide deaths because of suicide.

If anyone wants to see that video, just google, "Monsanto documentary evil"... or something along those lines.

EDIT: A more clear explanation of 'Monsanto seeds'. Monsanto seeds are engineered to resist non-selective weed killer (aka: kills everything). However, you have to buy the seeds every year from Monsanto and cannot save some of the seeds for next years crop, and we have been doing. If you do save the seeds, it's a lawsuit. The farmers that still grow normal seeds, and save some for next years crop, have become more and more affected by neighboring Monsanto seed crop pollens infiltrating there own seeds. this is through pollen, not theft. So, the normal seed grower finds himself in court for 'steeling seeds'.

You can can easily find the video online to watch if you google "The world according to monsanto". I agree, the initial start of the video starts off like a witch hunt, but if you don't have time for it, move the video to 1:05:00 (1 hour 5 minutes into the video).

 

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[jeff of pa]

I'm not going to watch the Video
no time But
This has me Confused.

Unless I don't get what your saying,

Let them take you to court.

What Jury would side with Them ?

Tell them to sue the wind & the bees !

Or sue themselves for making plants that produce
Pollen or drop seeds.

the farmers should countersue them for
Cross contamination. and would probably win
in a jury trial.

not to mention,
isn't anything you don't want
a Gift if forced upon you ?

 

[BuckleBoy]

Jeff, the problem is that Monsanto's seeds will only grow if sprayed with their brand of fertilizer. Imagine what could happen in terms of cross pollination and contamination to our food supply.


-Buck

 

[BuckleBoy]

That's it. I've had enough!! I declare a moratorium on any future planting until this problem is eradicated.!!.................................................oh, oh...............................................................................
Oh, I'm sorry folks, I lapsed into my Obama administration mode there for a moment. I HATE when that happens.

Thanks for derailing this thread into the area of politics!

 

[Unicorn]

Can I ask.........eerrrrr what are/is Monsanto seeds, not heard of those. Thanks


U.

 

[packerbacker]

I didn't mean to derail the thread buckleboy. I thought that just mentioning a company like Monsanto suing organic farmers for such a ridiculous reason was political in itself. We'll see who has the biggest dog in the fight. It will be another case of the lawyers win and the consumer loses. The losing company or the losing grower will simply raise the price of their product. That's why I don't celebrate big fines on companies. I don't mean to upset you in any way and I am going to cordially remove that offending post.

 

[packerbacker]

Monsanto is a huge producer of seeds for a multitude of crops. This is just a little snipit I took off an article on the net. I'm not making this political, it is already there so it's not me just grumbling and ignorantly blaming everything on politicians because I don't care for the party in charge.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, and Rep.
Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon, were joined by 49 other
representatives and five other senators in asking Vilsack to
ensure that Monsanto's genetically engineered alfalfa is not
approved for commercial use.

Don't make it political?

 

[packerbacker]

That's strange, T-net didn't like the word --deleted--ly.....see if it allows it here
Nope, didn't allow it again and it's not a bad word but I'll rephrase my statement.
......."grumbling and blindly blaming......"

There we go.....that worked

 

[GPURS]

Don't worry Packer, Buckleboy gets his panties in a wad very easily........ Carry on...

 

[rockhound]

Monsanto is trying to make all seeds hybrid, and eliminate organic ot open pollinated seeds. Where yoy get your seeds when that happens? Already they have not only patented thousands of seeds, but also are in the process of patenting livestock,which are fed those seed crops.There is only one seed supplier now that have non hybrid seeds,Seed Savers.If you plant hybrid seeds,you can't save the seeds and repalnt next year. You will always have to buy seed when all the non hybrid seeds are eliminated.Total contor over who gets seed and who doesn't. Also monsanto seeds have been proven not to contain any of the vitamins and minerals of natural seed crops. You might as well eat dirt, as it would have the same or maybe more nutrition, depending on where you got it. Most of the malnutrition in the world is attributed to GM or genetically modified seed crops. This is what Monsanto is doing.Livestock fed GM seed crops have little or no food value,making them unhealthy also.The only thing these GM food crops will add to your diet is fat.Good Luck. rockhound

 

[BuckleBoy]

Monsanto is a huge producer of seeds for a multitude of crops. This is just a little snipit I took off an article on the net. I'm not making this political, it is already there so it's not me just grumbling and --deleted--ly blaming everything on politicians because I don't care for the party in charge.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, and Rep.
Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon, were joined by 49 other
representatives and five other senators in asking Vilsack to
ensure that Monsanto's genetically engineered alfalfa is not
approved for commercial use.

Don't make it political?

Do you WANT to eat GM food? Do you want that mixed in with the food supply and cross-contaminated? You're on your own there!

Rockhound is absolutely right. Once hybrid seeds take over, you can kiss your arse goodbye if you like to save seed for the next year. You better hope that Monsanto is always around to make the product, because if they ever have a problem with production, YOU STARVE. It's not what nature intended, and it is scary as hell. I'm sorry that others don't seem to think so.

Regards,


Buck

 

[packerbacker]

Thanks for derailing this thread into the area of politics!
[/quote]
Just so you realize I am NOT the one that made this a political issue. You responded to my post with the little "mad-at-you face" because I, with tongue in cheek, came up with the scenerio of how the present administration came up with their response to the oil spill and how to prevent future ones and likened that response to how this would be handled.
Mike made the statement "Why are these people still allowed to exist?" and THAT just rolls off your back, you could care less about people's lives; just don't make fun of my party. See, I don't even know if it's your party but the way you responded tells me it is. You have to quit having these knee-jerk reactions to honest, factual, no-real-harm-intended statements about how this government is run and some of the dumba$$ decisions it makes, regardless of who is presently running things. To have an affiliation is healthy for the country but to follow with blinders on is not. 'Nuf said!
(bet this won't be here long )

 

[BuckleBoy]

Thanks for derailing this thread into the area of politics!
Just so you realize I am NOT the one that made this a political issue. You responded to my post with the little "mad-at-you face" because I, with tongue in cheek, came up with the scenerio of how the present administration came up with their response to the oil spill and how to prevent future ones and likened that response to how this would be handled.
Mike made the statement "Why are these people still allowed to exist?" and THAT just rolls off your back, you could care less about people's lives; just don't make fun of my party. See, I don't even know if it's your party but the way you responded tells me it is. You have to quit having these knee-jerk reactions to honest, factual, no-real-harm-intended statements about how this government is run and some of the dumba$$ decisions it makes, regardless of who is presently running things. To have an affiliation is healthy for the country but to follow with blinders on is not. 'Nuf said!
(bet this won't be here long )

What does this reply have to do with the original post?


Nothing!

 

[mikeofaustin]

Let me see if I can steer the topic back on course, because this is a prime example of people that are uninformed, and then get upset because they think it is B.S. (and also because I didn't explain it well enough to begin with).

Fact:
Monsanto's seeds are actually engineered to be immune to a non-selective weed-killer (aka: Round-Up). This means that if you plant their seeds and when it's normaly time to spray, you just spray your feilds with non-selective weed killer, and everything dies except Monsanto's seeds. Hence the term "Round-up ready seeds". Here lies the problem. While organic farmers still use 'normal' seeds and still spray 'selective' weed killer, the Monsanto fields next door to 'Normal-seeds Joe', will get his original seeds tainted with the pollens of these engineered seeds, even if he does NOT want them, and he finds himself in court, and eventually loses and has to start paying Monsanto for seeds he never bought.

In the days of old, farmers saved a portion of their seeds to plant next year. This has been done for millions of years. But, if your seeds have been contaminated by the pollens of Monsanto's seeds... Bang, you find yourself in court and cannot fight the multi-billion dollar lawyers, so you lose. Because under the Monsanto contract, you are not allowed to save ANY seeds. You have to buy them every year or lose your farm.

This is not right wing nor left wing. It's the facts. You cannot save seeds. If your seeds are contaminated, you lose in court and have to buy from monsanto. AND, for someone that knows something about farming.... the 'seed cleaners'?, Yep, they were sued too in court because they were "encouraging the saving of seeds".

-Mike

 

[packerbacker]

I totally agree. This is actually a very serious topic. (I'll remove my light-hearted cap for a moment) This isn't much different than the introduction of killer bees. What if, I'm not saying it can happen but, what if the Monsanto seeds cross pollinate with an unwanted plant and it eventually morphs into something that our present day weed killers can't kill? Then our fields begin to produce less food per acre due to the unwanted plant using up much of the nutrients. Seeds were smuggled into this country sewn into the clothing of immigrants coming from Europe. They realized the value of seeds and the purity of their heirloom varieties. Seeds derived from the plants of those seeds will last many years in storage and will always produce the exact food expected from those seeds. Once you cross pollinate the plants from those seeds you lose the original dna pattern so the seeds from the next crop are basically useless. You have no idea of the resulting crop. (Am I rambling?) Anyway, you can save the heirloom seeds year after year after year and always get the same quality of vegetable from the seeds of that strain that were produced hundreds of years ago. If I were growing heirloom tomatoes in my garden and using the seeds from the crop for next year and my neighbor is growing hybrid, I wonder if I can sue him should his pollen reach my tomatoes and ruin their seeds? If I had enough money I bet I could.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

 

[The Beep Goes On]

I think that, years from now, the development, testing and deployment of the atomic bomb will pale in comparison to what's going on with genetically engineered life. The downstream effects are unknowable and incalculable. I think that we're playing Russian Roulette with our food source and the biota of the planet, for profit of course.

 

[BuckleBoy]

I totally agree. This is actually a very serious topic. (I'll remove my light-hearted cap for a moment) This isn't much different than the introduction of killer bees. What if, I'm not saying it can happen but, what if the Monsanto seeds cross pollinate with an unwanted plant and it eventually morphs into something that our present day weed killers can't kill? Then our fields begin to produce less food per acre due to the unwanted plant using up much of the nutrients. Seeds were smuggled into this country sewn into the clothing of immigrants coming from Europe. They realized the value of seeds and the purity of their heirloom varieties. Seeds derived from the plants of those seeds will last many years in storage and will always produce the exact food expected from those seeds. Once you cross pollinate the plants from those seeds you lose the original dna pattern so the seeds from the next crop are basically useless. You have no idea of the resulting crop. (Am I rambling?) Anyway, you can save the heirloom seeds year after year after year and always get the same quality of vegetable from the seeds of that strain that were produced hundreds of years ago. If I were growing heirloom tomatoes in my garden and using the seeds from the crop for next year and my neighbor is growing hybrid, I wonder if I can sue him should his pollen reach my tomatoes and ruin their seeds? If I had enough money I bet I could.

I don't understand your reply, and I have read it several times. I also don't think you understand genetics when you're saying that a crop could cross pollenate with a weed.

Can you impregnate a chimpanzee?




Beep Goes On,

I totally agree with you. Russian Roulette.

 

[Smee]

Get a room . . . JK.

The seeds have been genetically altered 1) in hopes of the seeds coming from this year's crop being incapable of producing a crop next year, 2) such that the normal DNA of the plant has ALREADY been altered and thus the possibility of abnormal reproduction as in the case of a horse and donkey creating a mule. Similar but neither.

The goal of Monsanto is a monopoly in the seed business. Thus the "round up ready" varieties of cotton for example. They have been genetically altered so that a weed killer which would kill cotton plants will not affect the monsanto variety.

How much does the DNA of a corn plant genetically engineered by Monsanto differ from Johnson grass? Tell me please, because if we don't know, then how do we know it can't?

 

[The Beep Goes On]

"...life will find a way"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_gene_transfer

"Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), also Lateral gene transfer (LGT), is any process in which an organism incorporates genetic material from another organism without being the offspring of that organism. By contrast, vertical transfer occurs when an organism receives genetic material from its ancestor, e.g., its parent or a species from which it has evolved.

Most thinking in genetics has focused upon vertical transfer, but there is a growing awareness that horizontal gene transfer is a highly significant phenomenon and amongst single-celled organisms perhaps the dominant form of genetic transfer. Artificial horizontal gene transfer is a form of genetic engineering."