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POPSOur Rights Taken Away By Corporations
"He went on to specify how this could happen: direct seed movement by birds, by wind, especially on the prairies, by floods, and through cross-pollination by bees). It doesn’t actually matter how the genetically modified organisms get into an organic farmer’s field or into the fields of a conventional farmer like myself: once there, those seeds and plants become Monsanto’s property.” It was a very startling decision. The judge also ruled that we were not allowed to use our seeds or plants again and that all the seeds and plants that we had developed over 50 years became the property of Monsanto. The judge also ruled that all the profit from my 1998 canola crop was payable to Monsanto. The judge further ruled that even from the land that had no contamination, all profit would be payable to Monsanto because there was a probability that our seed contained some of Monsanto’s GMOs. The really worrying thing is how we can lose our rights and freedoms. The contract from Monsanto, take
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POPSMonsanto's Harvest of Fear Monsanto are evil. Evil, evil, evil. More: In the majority of cases where Monsanto sues, or threatens to sue, farmers settle before going to trial. The cost and stress of litigating against a global corporation are just too great. But Pilot Grove wouldn’t cave—and ever since, Monsanto has been turning up the heat…Monsanto demanded hands-on access to Pilot Grove’s in-house computers…petitioned to make potential damages punitive—tripling the amount that Pilot Grove might have to pay…Monsanto expanded the scope of the pre-trial investigation by seeking to quadruple the number of depositions.…Monsanto now subpoenaed the records of more than 100 of the co-op’s customers. In a “You are Commanded … ” notice, the farmers were ordered to gather up five years of invoices, receipts, and all other papers relating to their soybean and herbicide purchases, and to have the documents delivered to a law office in St. Louis. Monsanto gave them two weeks to comply.
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POPSThe Meatrix needs your help In case any Clippers would like to volunteer for the cause, they need people that can read and write Chinese, Japanese or Korean. Links to the two Meatrix movies at the top.
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POPSMonsanto's Udder Disgrace The milk labeling controversy - and other corporate practices of Monsanto - have been issues for years. For a while every time I saw my Senator, I would greet him with the same comment, "Hey Bernie, when are you going to do something about Monsanto?" Senator Bernie would shake his head and raise his hands in frustration. I often heard him say that no matter how bad you think things are in Washington, they are really much worse. While the Congress is distracted with growth hormones taken by sports figures, our farm animals are being abused with other hormones. Baseball players have a free choice. Cows don't. None of us have a choice. Not if Monsanto has anything to say about it and they do. Money talks.
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POPSNot just a Farm Bill, it's a food bill If the eaters and all the other “people on the outside” make themselves heard, we just might end up with something that looks less like a farm bill and more like the food bill a poorly fed America so badly needs. Call your Senator!
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POPSDoes the Indian government really believe this stuff? Sounds good at first reading, but then note the 200 meter isolation. This is nothing considering that both wind caried pollen and insect carried pollen will inevitably cross over a small area such as 200 meters. Contamination of nearby natural crops cannot be assured!
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POPSMONSANTO PATENTS ASSERTED AGAINST AMERICAN FARMERS REJECTED BY PATENT OFFICE One study of the matter found that, "Monsanto has used heavy-handed investigations and ruthless prosecutions that have fundamentally changed the way many American farmers farm. The result has been nothing less than an assault on the foundations of farming practices and traditions that have endured for centuries in this country and millennia around the world, including one of the oldest, the right to save and replant crop seed."
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POPSReasons to buy local produce Buying local also means the food is grown because it tastes good and not because it ships well. More reasons in the article, I recommend reading it.
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POPSSaving the family farm Check out the National Family Farm Coalition for more information about each of these policies. Eat better to live better.
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POPSArk of Taste The Ark of Taste is a project of the Slow Food Foundation. Its goal is to reintroduce forgotten foods, so that they do not go extinct. Large scale agrobusiness really threatens the existence of thousands of plant types, as well as animal species. Really interesting website with lots of information.
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POPSMonsanto sues small farmers again (and again) Monsanto is suing a canola farmer because bees pollinated his crops with "trademarked" pollen from a GM farm. Nice way to do business. Soon all canola crops will be owned by Monsanto, if it doesn't kill the bees first. Monsanto also sued a dairy farmer to prevent him from labelling his milk rBGH-free. Monsanto is the number one producer of rBGH.
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POPSGM crops are killing the bees The article makes a good case for GM crops being bad for bees. I didn't know the disappearance of bees was heavier in Texas and California. I just noticed there weren't as many where I live.
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POPSSave the languages, save the world Linguistic integrity is as important to our survival as a species as environmentalism. Check out the source to see why. Many resources and information at www.terralingua.org.
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POPSMurder that threatens our survival Languages are being murdered faster than ever before. What does this mean? The article ties linguistic diversity (LD) to biodiversity (BD). The two diversities seem to enforce and support each other. When the language dies, the knowledge dies with it. Interesting article for anthropologists and linguists.
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