What is GE? What is it Used For The Dangers! Organic Foods GE and You About This Site Contact			Monsanto = Bad Monsanto is not only the ruler of the GE industry, but they have ruling plans for the world too. And with the US Government behind them, they have everything in place to carry out their plans. After reading this page you will understand why many people are doing everything possible to stop companies like Monsanto before they go too far.  The Future of Our Food Monsanto vs. Canada After an 8 year review, Canada rejected Monsanto's request for the approval of their genetically modified milk hormone, rBGH. This drug has been shown to make dairy cows produce 10% more milk than normal. This rejection was a major setback for the GE Giant because it was Monsanto's first GE product, and Monsanto had hoped that it's international exceptance would help lead the way to the approval of their other genetically engineered products, most notably crops like cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, rice, corn , and soybeans. This approval process in Canada became an embarrasing event for Monsanto when Canadian health officials claimed that Monsanto had tried to bribe them. Monsanto denied this, and government scientists testified that they were being pressured by higher-ups to approve rBGH against their better scientific judgement. In the end Canada dissaproved of the rBGH drug because, as the product label acknowledges, it can cause udder infections, very painful, debilitating foot disorders, and reduced life span in treated cows. There is no doubt that bigger issues of genetic engineering in general also played a big role in the final decision. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of rBGH in the US in 1993, without taking a position on the issue of cruelty to animals. Monsanto will not reveal how widely the drug has been used by US dairy farmers, but unless it says "rBGH free", and most milk doesn't, it' in there. Monsanto is planning to appeal the Canadian Government's decision on rBGH. More importantly, they're asking the World Health Organization's Codex Alimentarius to declare rBGH safe, when Codex meets in Rome this coming summer. If Codex approves of the use of rBGH, under the World Trade Organization's rules, Canada will no longer be able to ban rBGH, and Monsanto will be one step closer to its goal: World domination. Monsanto's Plan All around the world Monsanto is selling two basic kinds of genetically engineered seeds: "Roundup Ready" seeds that have been genetically modified to withstand a huge quantities of Monsanto's best-selling herbicide, Roundup. The second is a group of seeds implanted with a speacial gene, which produces a pesticide in the form of a toxin in every cell of the plant. Caterpillars that eat any part of this kind of plant will die. The effectiveness of this gene may eventually decline when the whole caterpillar population develops "resistance" to the toxin, but know doubt Monsanto will have another, more potent toxin by then. Monsanto's latest horifying venture called the Technology Protection System, know as "terminator technology." was developed with taxpayer money by the U.S. Department of Agriculture but patented by a Mississippi-based seed company that Monsanto has recently purchased. Terminator technology is a genetic technique that causes the seeds of crops to become sterile after one or two years. This assures that Monsanto's seeds cannot be saved and re-planted year after year. With terminator technology, anyone who becomes dependent upon Monsanto's genetically engineered seed will have to come back to Monsanto every year or so to buy new seed. In this way Monsanto will gain a large amount of control over the food supply of any nation that widely accepts the use of it's GE products. This will in effect give Monsanto control of many of the staple crops that currently feed the world. Monsanto hit a little bump called Canada, but they're still proceeding full steam ahead with their plan to dominate world agriculture by selling genetically modified seeds. What's frightening is that they now have the worlds most powerful goverment to help them with any future "bumps" they may come across. Monsanto and the US Gov. The US government seems to believe that Monsanto's goal is worth supporting. When Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern came to the US in 1998 for a St. Patrick's Day visit, he was met by Sandy Berger, the director of the U.S. National Security Council. That lunch they discussed Ireland's pivotal vote in an upcoming European decision on Monsanto's genetically modified corn. When Monsanto flew a group of Irish journalists to the US to help them prepare for the debate over genetically modified foods, their trip included a stop in the Oval Office at the White House, Which is something very few visitors to Washington ever experience. When the French were reluctant to allow Monsanto's seeds to be grown on French soil, Secretary of State Madeline Albright and US Trade Representative Charlene Barshevsky joined Monsanto's cause. When the French still refused to allow the use of Monsanto's seeds, President Clinton personally took spoke with French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and gave him "an earful". When that didn't work, Vice-President Gore followed up with a phone call to the French Prime Minister. Eventually the French gave in to the pressure by the highest levels of US Government. As Bill Lambrecht wrote in the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, "Wherever Monsanto seeks to sow, the US government clears the ground" He calls the US government Monsanto's "most powerful ally." "From the White House and the National Security Council on down," Lambrecht writes, "the apparatus of the U.S. Government worked this year [1998] on behalf of biotechnology. For Monsanto, at this moment, it is like having an Olympic basketball team with several Michael Jordans." It appears to us that the U.S. government may view genetically modified crops as a powerful new arm of U.S. foreign policy. Nations whose staple foods are grown from seed that they must purchase year after year from Monsanto are nations likely to see the world the way the U.S. wants them to see it. When asked, they are likely to play ball, whether they want to or not. And Monsanto's agricultural and political power will likely be unrivaled.  Please send all feedback to ge_is_evil@hotmail.com © 1999 ThinkQuest Team 25365.