NOTE: Welcome to the world of the pro-GM elite where the administrations of
US presidents pursue aggressively pro-GM policies while the Obamas and the
Bushes plant organic gardens in the White House and have organic kitchen
policies!
http://tiny.cc/FtdQg
According to Jeffrey Smith, "Even at Monsanto,
many in-the-know employees won't consume the company's own GM creations...
And one former Monsanto scientist told me that his colleagues, who were
safety testing milk from cows injected with the company's genetically
engineered bovine growth hormone, decided to stop drinking milk -- unless it
was organic."
http://tiny.cc/FtdQg
Monsanto's CEO, Hugh Grant, has also admitted buying organic food. And
although Tony Blair when Prime Minister famously claimed he fed his children
GM, his wife Cherie subsequently admitted that she made a point of feeding
their children organic food!
And after the melamine contaminated milk scandal broke in China, Associated
Press reported that China's political leaders ate all organic, with care
being taken to source GM-free rice (China's rice has become GM contaminated
although GM rice has never been approved for cultivation!).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26874854/
Seems any ill effects from GM foods are unlikely to hurt the pro-GM elite.
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Eat it up Monsanto!
Caroline Jacobsson
Greenpeace, February 10 2012
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/eat-it-up-monsanto/blog/39002/
There's a story doing the rounds again, about how Monsanto, one of the
world's largest profiteers of genetically engineered (GE) food, banned GE
food from its own corporate canteens!
Monsanto had its pants pulled down by Friends of the Earth in 1999, who
revealed that the company was refusing to serve to its own staff the very
same GE food that it incessantly foists upon impoverished nations on the
premise that it will save populations from starvation. Although it has never
been proved, Monsanto constantly claims that GE food is harmless – so why
wasn't it serving it in its own office?
In one canteen, run by external provider, Sutcliffe Catering, a notice read
that a decision has been taken to remove, as far as practicable, GE soya and
maize from all food products served in the canteen. "We have taken the above
steps to ensure that you, the customer, can feel confident in the food we
serve", the provider said.
"We believe in choice", said Monsanto, while the company actually made sure
that by not serving GE food in its canteens they did not give staff the
opportunity to 'choose' whether or not to eat GE food as they de facto
ensure that the staff did not get to eat GE food. Yet the same choice isn't
available to farmers around the world, who most of the time have no choice
but to plant GE crops, thanks to a seed market that is often dominated by
Monsanto.
Once the GE seeds are in the ground, a vicious circle is started; farmers no
longer have the opportunity to choose, as once GE seeds have been released
into the environment it is not possible to contain or control them, as an
individual seed travels with wind or is swept away by rainwater and may set
root in soil owned by a farmer who does not at all want to plant GE seeds.
In a recent protest in a Manhattan courtroom US farmers said it is no longer
possible for them to keep GE seeds off their fields due to contamination.
If Monsanto decided for its staff that it cannot eat GE food, and actually
removes the staff's own right to choose, how come the rest of us cannot have
the same opportunity? Over 90% of all processed food in the US - such as
breakfast cereal and the chicken nuggets often served to kids -are now
contaminated by GE, even if the farmers who produced the food actually did
not intentionally grow any GE crops.
In one Monsanto office location, staff were reportedly happy to eat GE food,
as they preferred food sprayed with fewer pesticides. However, the
widespread and increasingly intensive use of pesticides in association with
the use of GE crops poses suspected further risks to the environment and
human health, such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and birth defects. Monsanto's
sales pitch to farmers continues to promise reduced labour and financial
savings by simplifying and reducing the costs of weed control. The reality
turns out to be somewhat different, with GE crops attracting increasing
health, biodiversity and environmental concerns, and the development of weed
resistance.
Genetic Engineering, corporate control of people's food and the over
reliance on pesticides and herbicides are not the solutions. So what is?
Ecological Farming. It's safe. It's do-able. And it's happening now. Help us
support farming for the future.
So Monsanto, if you feel so confident in the food you serve up to the rest
of the planet – are you serving GE food in your canteen these days?
Caroline Jacobsson is a Communications Manager at Greenpeace International