WikiLeaks: Reveals U.S. Sought to Retaliate Against Europe Over Refusal To Use Monsanto GM Seed

[TalkingDog]

http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2010/12/23/wikileaks_cables_reveal_us_sought_to

JEFFREY SMITH: Well, we’ve been saying for years that the United States government has joined at—is joined at the hip with Monsanto and pushing GMOs as part of Monsanto’s agenda on the rest of the world. This lays bare the mechanics of that effort. We have Craig Stapleton, the former ambassador to France, specifically asking the U.S. government to retaliate and cause some harm throughout the European Union. And then, two years later, in 2009, we have a cable from the ambassador to Spain from the United States asking for intervention there, asking the government to help formulate a biotech strategy and support the government—members of the government in Spain that want to promote GMOs, as well. And here, they specifically indicate that they sat with the director of Monsanto for the region and got briefed by him about the politics of the region and created strategies with him to promote the GMO agenda.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, they apparently were especially interested in one Monsanto product, MON 810. Could you talk about that?

JEFFREY SMITH: Yes. This is the first seed that was approved for widespread planting. You see, the biotech industry was concerned initially about the European Union accepting genetically modified foods. Although that had been approved for years by the commission, the food industry had rejected it because consumers were concerned. And so, there hasn’t been a lot of food going to the European Union that’s genetically modified.

However, they had planned to allow the growing of genetically modified seeds. Now that MON 810 has been allowed, individual countries have stepped forward to ban in. And so, in 2007, they were concerned about that, and so they were trying to create a strategy to force these countries to accept the first of the genetically modified seeds. Since then, there’s been more evidence showing that this genetically modified corn damages mice and rats, etc., can cause reductions of fertility, smaller litter sizes, smaller offspring, immune responses, etc. And these have gone largely ignored by both the European Food Safety Authority and the United States FDA.

[TalkingDog]

1. Bumping cause Monsanto sucks.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Big time n/t

[Catherina]

2. Rec'd with disgust n/t

[frylock]

3. just more trivial gossip

:sarcasm:

[jwirr]

4. I live in a state that has a lot of Monsanto companies. Can someone tell me

what they are trying to accomplish with these GMO ideas? What is supposed to be good about them? And what is bad? How do they hurt farmers in places like Africa? If you know a good link I can read it myself but if I google I will not know which source is good.

[1776Forever]

5. Check this one out..........

http://www.gamingthemarket.com/monsanto-profiting-without-conscience.html

[saras]

6. More on the purpose of GMO

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/SeedsOfDeception/TheBookataGlance/index.cfm

More good information in this book - I haven't looked at the website closely, but last quarter in school I looked up a bunch of the research referenced in the book. Quite solid and straightforward.

[WinkyDink]

8. Patents. Non-renewable seeds that must be purchsed each season. Follow the money.

[TalkingDog]

13. Point by point

What are they trying to accomplish? Depends on who you ask. Monsanto says: Feed the world, help the poor farmers, etc.

IMHO: Their practices suggest they are trying to monopolize the genome of individual plants so that only their specifically engineered "product" can be used.

Have you ever heard a dealer suggest the first taste is free? Yeah, well, so does Monsanto.

What is SUPPOSED to be good? They have the (as yet unmet) potential to develop strains that would indeed be less dependent on desalinated water, fertilizers, herbicides.

IMHO: The "successful" ones, like any natural organism have the other parts of the natural system adapt to their artificial adaptation. So now we have "Super Weeds" -bigger, stronger, less susceptible to mild herbicides. Now they require a toxic stew to kill these new stronger weeds. Not good for the environment. And again, once they sell you seed, you can't resell it or use your own seed gathered from your own crops, because Monsanto owns the genome and you can't use it without purchasing the license. Watch the documentary "Food Inc." A couple of good scenes with Monsanto goons in it.

I'd say suing farmers out of business and literally wrecking their farmland to keep them from engaging in a practice as old as agriculture (seed saving) might suggest they are less than stellar citizens of the planet. Selling seed that can only work with a specific herbicide- which by the way Monsanto will sell them for a price-; effectively blackmailing poor farmers to either use their product or suffer Monsanto's wrath.

Find many links to follow found in the reference section in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto

From Wikipedia:
Some struggles facing Indian farmers are detailed in the article "Seeds of Suicide: India's Desperate Farmers" on Frontline.<99> The transition to using the latest pest-resistant seeds and the necessary herbicides has been difficult. Farmers have used genetically modified seeds promoted by Cargill and Monsanto hoping for greater yields. Resulting debts from such gambles with genetically modified seeds have led some farmers into the equivalent of indentured servitude. More than 4,500 farmers have committed suicide, which some claim is mostly due to mounting debt caused by the poor yields, increased need for pesticides, and the higher cost of the Bt cotton seed sold by Monsanto.

And while they tout their best selling and most popular product: Round up as "safe"; they only mean safe for the things they want you to know about.

It's decimating the frog/amphibian populations: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-04/uopm-rhl040105.php

Have fun with all that reading.

[Zephie]

7. K and R

[Wednesdays]

10. K&R

:kick:

[sabrina 1]

11. One of the most evil corporations in the world.

Shameful that the U.S. government backs them. I saw a documentary about Monsanto a little while ago and it is absolutely shocking the harm they have done all over the world.

Is there is any evil money making entity that the U.S. will not endorse? I so wanted to believe we were the good guys who would come to the rescue of the victims of these kind of evil organizations. But over and over again, we are on the wrong side.

So sad, and good for Wikileaks once again for exposing who is supporting this evil.

[PBS Poll-435]

12. I just can't remember why Monsanto keeps releasing shitty cars

I mean, really?


:P

J/K

[kgnu_fan]

14. Kick