The 2012 Apocalypse

Two stories concerning genetic frankenfoods producer Monsanto. First, the natural corn producers of Mexico are furious that Monsanto’s patented cyber-seeds are being planted and contaminating natural crops which could lead to the extinction of real corn in the country:

After 14 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement’s devastating effects on the majority of Mexican farmers, Mexico’s food system now faces another serious threat. Illegally planted and unknowingly imported since the late nineties, genetically modified (GM) corn has contaminated farms all over Mexico, threatening the livelihoods of small farmers, endangering consumer health, and putting at risk the incredible genetic diversity of native Mexican corn. …

The planting of GM corn has never been legal in Mexico, although some biotech companies have permission to plant small “pilot fields” to test out their GM varieties. But according to a recent Reuters article, there are an estimated 9,000 hectares of GM corn in northern Mexico’s Chihuahua state. The government is aware of this, but has done nothing to stop it.

Mexico does allow the importation of GM corn, and since the late nineties, enormous quantities of it have entered – unlabelled – into Mexico’s food system. Farmers also unwittingly plant GM corn, and native varieties have been contaminated by GM corn all over the country – thanks to the fact that pollen can travel long distances by wind.

Additionally Monsanto is trying to control the labeling of milk, wanting to ensure that natural companies labeling their milk as “rGBH-free” are prevented from doing so.

Monsanto is waging a war of words to attempt to stop the threat against its bottom line. Consumers are becoming skeptical about recombined food and so the company is attempting to suppress or ban the “rBGH-free” label at the state level.

They contend that rBST is a supplement used to help cows produce more milk. Because of the fact that the supplement is injected into the cow and not the milk, they insist that the resulting milk is exactly the same. They state that there is no difference in this milk.

While it is true that all cows have naturally occurring bovine growth hormone, only cows injected with the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone have rBGH. To call this hormone a mere “supplement” is inaccurate as well. Cows that receive this hormone typically last only two lactation cycles before they are slaughtered. Non-rBGH cows normally produce milk for 4-7 years and can live as long as 10 years.

Canada, Australia, and parts of the European Union have banned Monsanto’s recombined milk due to its threats to both humans and cows. To date, the U.S. has yet again allowed Monsanto the freedom to unleash its possibly lethal products on the unsuspecting consumer. And so, it comes down to a battle between the FDA (and its supporters) and those who don’t follow the FDA. Proposed bans on rBGH-free labels are not to protect the consumer, they are to protect Monsanto’s pocketbook.

we are increasingly witnessing the infusion of the unnatural into the natural, and the replacement of the world’s natural DNA with patented corporate DNA, and companies like Monsanto should not be supported. Their endeavors are not to enhance humanity, but rather extract as much profit as possible by converting food to a patented and controlled product of intellectual property.

Read more about Monsanto in Mexico: Seeds of worry.
Read more about Monsanto wanting to ban the “rBGH-free” label here: Explaining Monsanto’s Desire to Ban Current Milk Labeling .