A few nights ago I watched a documentary on TG4…Ireland’s Irish language channel…about the effect Monsanto has had on agriculture in India. I had read something of this but this programme really spelled out just how evil this company is and has been in it’s attempt to murder India’s agriculture. The main GM crops grown in India are cotton and rice. Cotton is a very important crop for Indian’s farmers. Actually most of the world’s cotton comes from India. The farmers were promised higher yields and better quality cotton. However…the seed are much more expensive than indigenious varieties and they will not perform without copious amounts of extra pesticides and extra water. Farmers were not told this at the beginning. They end up in a spiral of debt from which they can not escape. Gm cotton growers have 80% more debt. Many thousands of farmers have committed suicide leaving their families in dire straits.
Of course these are terminator technology seeds so new seed must be purchased every year. Monsanto has bought up many of the Indian seed companies so there is little option left if farmers wish to return to using native seeds. Often the seed packets remain the same except for the little Monsanto logo in the bottom corner. A distinct disadvantage as most of the farmers are illiterate.
The remnants of these crops go on to do further damage to the farmers animals. The straw left over from rice and cotton is fed to animals. There have been many animal deaths after eating this GM straw. It is thought the animals can’t digest this food and it kills the bacteria in the rumen.
Rice production has also been contaminated by GM seeds. In a country that boasted over 30,000 varieties of rice it is now reduced to around 150 varieties. Golden Rice was supposed to be the new magic crop that provided Vitamin A which is deficient in the Indian diet. What the growers were not told was that 9kg of rice would have to be eaten daily to get your daily allowance of the vitamin.
There is however some fightback. Vandana Shiva the renowned environmentalist has set up Navdanya…a network of seed keepers and organic growers spread across 17 Indian states.
Here in Europe we also need to be on our guard. Monsanto have been saying that they are going to withdraw from selling GM seeds in Europe….however….and this is very worrying…Monsanto are now using loopholes in European law to seek patents on common fruits and veg that exist naturally in Nature. It seems Monsanto is no longer content with with manipulating, patenting and selling it’s own GM seeds… it has as it’s goal the ownership of every plant in existence. Please inform yourself and join over 2 million others in signing this petition: http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_nm/?bigwYcb&v=26065
Sadly here in Ireland we are not GM free either. GM potatoes are being trailed in Carlow this year and all non-organic animal feeds have a percentage of GM maize…this is not stated on the labels in the supermarket. Make no mistake every country on the Planet is under assault from this powerful corporation. Sadly our governments are working with them. In America this is blatantly obvious. The Deputy Commissioner of the FDA…Michael Taylor…is a former vice president of Monsanto. Does’nt seem right to me!!
What can we do? We can let the supermarkets know we do not want produce that has GM residues. Ask them about GM labelling. Grow as much as we can ourselves from organic seeds. Save the seeds of crops that do well…they will be acclimatised to your area.
Be vigilant…the assault on Mother Earth is ongoing…we must do what we can to help her.
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