Survival Cave Food
Monsanto GMO seeds
Our friends at Survival Cave Food have this to say about Monsanto and GMO Seeds:
Monsanto GMO seeds
Over the past few years, the American people have been forced to start thinking about what is in their food. The times of fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat are long behind us, and natural, unprocessed snacks are a thing of the past. Unless you grow your own food in an organic garden in your backyard, chances are you’re often ingesting genetically modified products.
Monsato, a biotech company, designed genetically modified seeds and sold them to farmers around the US. However, the seeds have shown signs of causing health risks. The Monsato Protection Act is meant to limit a judge’s power over whether Monsato can sell the seeds or not. Senator Jeff Merkley wants to send through an amendment that will overturn the Monsato Protection Act, which was earlier signed by Obama. Many criticize Obama for not scrutinizing the act enough and blame him for favoring big business instead of the health of American citizens.
Monsato seeds are meant to render stronger plants that have a heavier resistance to pest repellants. Of course the idea of stronger, more resistant plants doesn’t sound very offensive, but it just means that more chemicals will be pumped onto our food products. Though the plant won’t die from being covered in pesticides, it can absorb more of the chemicals and transfer them to humans when ingested.
Other than the controversy over the health risks of the seeds, Monsato has caused a scene by suing several farmers for supposedly using their genetically modified seeds without paying. Monsato so far has pursued more than 800 patent infringement cases, causing several farmers to go bankrupt because there were slight traces of their genetic modification in the famers’ seeds. Monsato has now promised not to sue if the farmers’ seeds have less than one percent of any of their patented modifications. Monsato actually lost a case to the Center for Food Safety in 2010 because they illegally planted genetically modified sugar beets. However, Monsato has not lost steam. Monsato has settled 700 cases and filed 144 infringement suits between 1997 and 2010, and with the Monsato Protection Act, they are sure to keep filing cases. Monsato is also starting to complain about the act being named “Monsato Protection Act,” because they insist they are one of many companies that genetically modify food. Even so, Monsato shouldn’t complain – the President of the United States is personally protecting them from fuming Americans.
More than 250,000 Americans have signed a petition to send to Obama in hopes of overturning the act. However, Obama decided to ignore the pleas of the American people. The act still withstands. Several groups around the world are making an effort to protest against Monsato. Those same groups are also hoping to send an act through that would make it mandatory to label all genetically modified foods. 62 countries other than America have made it illegal to not label GMO foods, including China and Russia. American citizens are outraged because Obama has made no laws demanding labels on GMO foods, especially because in 2007 he told Iowa famers “we’ll let folks know whether their food has been genetically modified because Americans should know what they’re buying.” Apparently, Obama has changed his mind.