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| Size comparison of terrestrial planets (left to right): Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Time is running out to stand up and to be effective. We have to know what to do and how to be effective in stopping our planet being completely destroyed. I can hear the planet screaming and she is begging us to stop them doing this to her.
The planet is a living breathing entity just like we are. We have to afford the planet the same respect that we expect of each other.
We are the only Rescue Team. SAY NO with your MONEY! Mining companies are now trialing genetically modified crops with toxic saline mining water.
1. Saccharin
Did you know Monsanto got started because of an artificial sweetener?
John Francisco Queeny founded Monsanto Chemical Works in St. Louis,
Missouri with the goal of producing saccharin for Coca-Cola. In stark
contrast to its sweet beginnings, studies performed during the early
1970s, including a study by the
National Cancer Institute in 1980, showed that saccharin caused cancer in test rats and mice.
After mounting pressure from consumers, the Calorie Control
Council, and manufacturers of artificial sweeteners and diet sodas,
along with additional studies (several conducted by the sugar and
sweetener industry) that reported flaws in the 1970s studies, saccharin
was delisted from the NIH’s Carcinogen List.
A variety of letters
from scientists advised against delisting; the official document
includes the following wording to this day:
“although it is
impossible to absolutely conclude that it poses no threat to human
health, sodium saccharin is not reasonably anticipated to be a human
carcinogen under conditions of general usage as an artificial
sweetener.”
(*Read the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s History of
Saccharin[9] here.)
2. PCB's Polychlorinated biphenyls
During the early 1920s, Monsanto began
expanding
their chemical production into polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to
produce coolant fluids for electrical transformers, capacitors, and
electric motors.
Fifty years later, toxicity tests began reporting serious health
effects from PCBs in laboratory rats exposed to the chemical.
After another decade of studies, the truth could no longer be contained: the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
published a report citing PCBs as the cause of cancer in animals,
with additional evidence that they can cause cancer in
humans. Additional peer-reviewed health studies showed a causal link
between exposure to PCBs and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a frequently fatal
form of cancer.
In 1979, the United States Congress recognized PCBs as a significant
environmental toxin and persistent organic pollutant, and banned its
production in the U.S. By then Monsanto already had manufacturing
plants abroad, so they weren’t entirely stopped until the Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants banned PCBs globally in
2001.
And that is when Monsanto’s duplicity was uncovered: internal company
memos from 1956 surfaced, proving that Monsanto had known about
dangers of PCBs from early on.
In 2003, Monsanto paid out over $600 million to residents of
Anniston, Alabama, who experienced severe health problems
including liver disease, neurological disorders and cancer after
being exposed to PCBs - more than double the payoff that was awarded in
the case against Pacific Gas & Electric made famous by the movie
“Erin Brockovich.” And yet the damage persists.
Nearly 30 years after PCBs have been banned from the U.S., they are still
showing up in the blood of pregnant women, as reported in a 2011 study by the University of California San Francisco.
3. Polystyrene
In 1941, Monsanto began focusing on plastics and synthetic
polystyrene, which is still widely used in food packaging and ranked 5th
in the EPA’s 1980s listing of chemicals whose production generates
the most total hazardous waste.
4. Atom bomb and nuclear weapons
Shortly after acquiring Thomas and Hochwalt Laboratories,
Monsanto turned this division into their Central Research
Department. Between 1943 to 1945, this department coordinated key
production efforts of the Manhattan Project - including
plutonium purification and production and, as part of the Manhattan
Project’s Dayton Project, techniques to refine chemicals used as
triggers for atomic weapons (an era of U.S. history that sadly included
the deadliest
industrial accident).
5. DDT
In 1944, Monsanto became one of the first manufacturers of the
insecticide DDT to combat malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Despite
decades of Monsanto propaganda insisting that DDT was safe, the true
effects of DDT’s toxicity were at last confirmed through outside
research and in 1972, DDT was banned throughout the U.S.
6. Dioxin
In 1945, Monsanto began promoting the use of chemical pesticides in
agriculture with the manufacture of the herbicide 2,4,5-T (one of the
precursors to Agent Orange), containing dioxin. Dioxins are a group of
chemically-related compounds that has since become known as one of the
“Dirty Dozen” - persistent environmental pollutants that accumulate
in the food chain, mainly in the fatty tissue of animals. In the decades
since it was first developed, Monsanto has been accused of covering up
or failing to report dioxin contamination in a wide range of its
products.
7. Agent Orange
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(Pictured, Anh and Trang Nhan,
with their father, when they first
arrived at the Hoi An Orphanage). |
During the early 1960s, Monsanto was one of the two primary
manufacturers of Agent Orange, an herbicide / defoliant used for
chemical warfare during the Vietnam War. Except, Monsanto’s formula had
dioxin levels many times higher than the Agent Orange produced by Dow
Chemicals, the other manufacturer (which is why Monsanto was the key
defendant in the lawsuit brought by Vietnam War veterans in the United
States).
As a result of the use of Agent Orange, Vietnam estimates that over
400,000 people were killed or maimed, 500,000 children were born with
birth defects, and up to 1 million people were disabled or suffered from
health problems - not to mention the far-reaching impact it had on the
health of over 3 million American troops and their offspring.
Internal Monsanto memos show that Monsanto knew of the problems of
dioxin contamination of Agent Orange when it sold it to the U.S.
government
for use in
Vietnam. Despite the widespread health impact, Monsanto and Dow were
allowed to appeal for and receive financial protection from the U.S.
government against veterans seeking compensation for their exposure to
Agent Orange.
In 2012, a long 50 years after Agent Orange was deployed,
the clean-up effort has finally begun. Yet the legacy of Agent
Orange, and successive generations of body deformities, will remain in orphanages throughout Vietnam for decades to come.
Two crops were recently genetically
engineered in the United States to withstand a weedkiller made with one of the major
components of Agent Orange, 2,4-D in order to combat “super weeds”
that evolved due to the excessive use of Round-Up.
8. Petroleum-Based Fertilizer
In 1955, Monsanto began manufacturing petroleum-based
fertilizer after purchasing a major oil refinery. Petroleum-based
fertilizers
can kill beneficial soil micro-organisms, sterilizing the soil and
creating a dependence, like an addiction, to the synthetic replacements.
Not the best addiction to have, considering the rising cost and
dwindling supply of oil…
9. RoundUp
During the early 1970s, Monsanto founded their Agricultural
Chemicals division with a focus on herbicides, and one herbicide in
particular: Round-Up (glyphosate).
Because of Round Up's ability to eradicate
weeds literally overnight, It was quickly adopted by farmers. Its
use increased even more when Monsanto introduced
“Round-Up Ready”
(glyphosate-resistant) crops, enabling farmers to saturate the entire
field with weedkiller without killing the crops.
While Glyphosate has been approved by regulatory bodies worldwide and
is widely used, concerns about its effects on humans and the
environment persist. Round-Up has been found in samples of
groundwater, as well as soil, and even in streams and air
throughout the Midwest U.S., and increasingly in food. It has
been linked to butterfly mortality, and the proliferation of
superweeds. Studies in rats have shown consistently negative health
impacts ranging from tumors, altered organ function, and infertility, to
cancer and premature death. Reference the above
“GMO Risks” page
which includes countless references to support these statements.
10. Aspartame (NutraSweet / Equal)
An accidental discovery during research on gastrointestinal hormones
resulted in a uniquely sweet chemical: aspartame. During the clinical
trials conducted on 7 infant monkeys as part of aspartame’s application
for FDA approval, 1 monkey died and 5 other monkeys had grand mal
seizures - yet somehow aspartame was still approved by the FDA in 1974. In
1985, Monsanto acquired the company responsible for aspartame’s
manufacture (G.D. Searle) and began marketing the product as NutraSweet.
Twenty years later, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
released a report listing 94 health issues caused by aspartame.
11. Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH)
This genetically modified hormone was developed by Monsanto to be
injected into dairy cows to produce more milk. Cows subjected to rBGH
suffer excruciating pain due to swollen udders and mastitis, and the
pus from the resulting infection enters the milk supply
requiring the use of additional antibiotics. rBGH milk has been linked
to breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer in
humans.
12. Genetically Modified Crops / GMOs
In the early 1990s, Monsanto began gene-splicing corn, cotton, soy,
and canola with DNA from a foreign source to achieve one of two traits:
an internally-generated pesticide, or an internal resistance to
Monsanto’s weedkiller RoundUp.
Despite decades of promises that
genetically engineered crops would feed the world with more nutrients,
drought resistance, or yield, the majority of Monsanto’s profits are
from seeds that are engineered to tolerate Monsanto’s RoundUp an
ever-rising, dual income stream as weeds continue to evolve resistance
to RoundUp.
Most sobering however, is that the world is once again buying into Monsanto’s “safe” claims. Just like the early days of PCBs, DDT, Agent Orange, Monsanto has
successfully fooled the general public and regulatory agencies into
believing that RoundUp, and the genetically modified crops that help
sell RoundUp, are “safe.”
Except Monsanto has learned a thing or two in the past 100+ years of
defending its dirty products: these days, when a new study proving the
negative health or environmental impacts of GMOs emerges, Monsanto
attacks the study and its scientist(s) by flooding the media with
counter claims from “independent” organizations, scientists, industry
associations, blogs, sponsored social media, and articles by “private”
public relations firms. These studies etc are frequently founded, funded and maintained by
Monsanto.
Unfortunately, few of us take the time to trace the members,
founders, and relationships of these seemingly valid sources back to
their little Monsanto secret.
Fooling the FDA required a slightly different approach: click on
the below chart compiled by Millions Against Monsanto to see how
many former Monsanto VPs and legal counsel are now holding positions
with the FDA..
Don’t forget
Clarence Thomas, former
Monsanto attorney
who is now
a Supreme Court Justice, ruling in favor of Monsanto in
every case brought before him.
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| Click HERE for a larger picture |
13. The Bakers Dozen - Terminator Seeds
In the late 1990s, Monsanto developed the technology to produce
sterile grains unable to germinate. These “Terminator Seeds” would
force farmers to buy new seeds from Monsanto year after year, rather
than save and reuse the seeds from their harvest as they’ve been doing
throughout centuries.
Fortunately this technology never came to market.
Instead, Monsanto chose to require farmers to sign a contract agreeing
that they will not save or sell seeds from year to year, which forces
them to buy new seeds and preempts the need for a “terminator gene.”
Lucky for us, since the terminator seeds were capable of
cross-pollination and could have contaminated local non-sterile crops.
What’s the Result of our Monsanto Legacy?
Between 75% to 80% of the processed food you consume every day
has GMOs inside, and residues of Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide outside.
But it’s not just processed food - fresh fruit and vegetables are next:
genetically engineered sweet corn is already being sold at your
local grocer, with apples and a host of other “natural” produce
currently in field trials.
How is it that Monsanto is allowed to manipulate our food after such a
dark product history? How is it they are allowed to cause such
detrimental impact to our environment and our health?
According to the Organic Consumers Association, “There is a
direct correlation between our genetically engineered food supply and
the $2 trillion the U.S. spends annually on medical care, namely an
epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases.
Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal
products, U.S. factory farms and food processors produce a glut of
genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke,
diabetes and cancer - backed by farm subsidies - while organic farmers
receive no such subsidies.
Monsanto’s history reflects a consistent pattern of toxic chemicals,
lawsuits, and manipulated science. Is this the kind of company we want
controlling our world’s food supply?
P.S. Monsanto’s not alone. Other companies in the “Big Six”
include Pioneer Hi-Bred International (a subsidiary of
DuPont), Syngenta AG, Dow Agrosciences (a subsidiary of Dow
Chemical, BASF (which is primarily a chemical company that is
rapidly expanding their biotechnology division, and Bayer
Cropscience (a subsidiary of Bayer).
Images @ Eminpee Fotography
