Journal Magdalene's Journal: A measure of wheat for Two pennies... 1
GMO/chemical giant Monsanto is taking a break from suing seed savers and attempting to charge money to organic farmers who have had the unfortunate opportunity to sample their GMO wares due to wind blown pollen contamination of their organic crops.
Yes, our favourite third world bully of small time farmers is seeming to take an altruistic look at the bigger picture. They claim they are undertaking a "commitment to help increase global food production in the face of growing demand, limited resources and a changing climate." Monsanto doesn't have profit on their minds this time it seems, according to their news release,
But how altruistic is it? Probing deeper, one of the 'not-for-profit' foundations it lists in its news release happens to be a lobby group whose purpose as cited by sourcewatch encyclopedia is "to work with governments, companies, non-governmental organizations, and research centres to negotiate the sales rights of genetically modified crops and bring new agricultural technologies to the African market" and is apparantly, funded in part by a number of biotech corporations, including, no surprise, Monsanto. Sourcewatch itself quotes Oryza.org for these facts and I encourage those who can read kanji to go to this original source.
It seems that Monsanto is interested in nothing more than making a profit off of the coming food shortages, and is attempting to set up an infrastructure to put this plan into place with intellectual property patents and hybridized GMO seeds that cannot be harvested and replanted, so the farmers have to keep coming back to the company to buy new seeds every growing season, at Monsanto's premium price.
People who do not think this is possible should look to the 3rd world, where the smallholder is already struggling to keep his own seedstock diversity, as giant biotech companies, Monsanto included, are attempting even now to put laws through the government that would make it illegal for the farmer to choose which seeds he or she is allowed to plant or save.
We really should not hold this poor multi-billion dollar company to blame. They have grown a hell of a lot from the company it was when it opened so many years ago selling saccarin in the US. Then again, it stole the formula from the original producer/patent holder in Europe. if you start with dishonesty, it is easy to continue on in the same path, and soon the rut you have carved is so deep you cannot climb out of it.
Either that or they *are* just profit scrounging dogs willing to sell out their mothers for bit change.
-m
Junk Science and Victimhood to the rescue (Score:2)