The Food Revolution - Genetic Engineering, Part III

[nosmokes]

original-celsias

Editor’s Note: Continuing our Food Revolution series, John Robbins tackles transgenic crops (GMOs). Moving on from last time (this is the third installment of three parts on this important topic), for those who missed the fairytale as a child, The Emperor’s New Clothes was a tale of deception and theft - making The Emperor’s New Foods a fitting title for this story of corporate corruption of our most basic of needs. Spread the word - people need to know.

The Emperor’s New Foods

by John Robbins, an author widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on the intimate link between diet and environmental and personal health. Amongst others, John is the author of the revolutionary book ‘Diet for a New America‘, a book nominated for a pulitzer prize, as well as the updated ‘Food Revolution‘ and ‘Healthy at 100‘.

In 1999, 87,000 bags of organic tortilla chips worth hundreds of thousands of dollars were destroyed after a routine analysis found transgenic DNA to be present in the product. The organic corn had been grown on a 7,000-acre farm in Texas, but had been contaminated by cross-pollination from neighboring farms that were growing genetically engineered corn.(1) You might think that after such an occurrence, the biotech industry would at least apologize. But that’s not how these companies tend to respond. They have come up with a more profitable, less embarrassing idea. Monsanto has been suing farmers whose crops have been contaminated by cross-pollination, accusing them, believe it or not, of stealing a patented product.

In Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Percy Schmeiser has grown canola (rapeseed) on his 1,400-acre farm for 40 years. In 1997, he began to notice something unusual. When he sprayed Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup around electricity poles, the herbicide killed all the weeds except for a thin scattering of canola plants. Schmeiser had been cross-breeding his own canola for more than 30 years, saving seed from each year’s harvest as farmers have done for centuries, and at first he thought he might have accidentally created some kind of Frankenstein mutant. He mentioned his concerns to some of his neighbors.
The next thing he knew, private investigators hired by Monsanto arrived at his farm uninvited and took samples of his crops.(2)

Sure enough, some of the plants were genetically similar to Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Canola. The company then accused Schmeiser of “stealing” its seeds and infringing its patent. Monsanto demanded compensation to the entire value of Schmeiser’s 1998 crop, plus punitive damages, court costs, and his signature on a nondisclosure agreement that required him to stay silent about the affair.(3)

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complete article here

[RC]

1. The link go to a scary eye opener. Just how can they get away with so much

criminal activity in this country? We all need food to survive. And Monsanto and 4 other companies are contaminating our food supply and are trying totally control our food production with this contamination.